


Labor of Love

by OMGitsgreen



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Baking, Complete, F/F, Fluff, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gen, Lemony Snicket levels of anachornism, M/M, Mighty Nein own a bakery, buisnessman!Essek, rated because there is like 1 sex joke lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:48:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23161231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OMGitsgreen/pseuds/OMGitsgreen
Summary: "He still looked devastatingly attractive in every possible way and it wasn’t fair because he looked like he had just rolled out of the bed. Essek needed at least an hour in the morning to talk himself into being even vaguely pleasant.“Oh! Guten Morgen, and welcome back to the Xhorhaus Bakery,” Caleb said, a certain pleasant crinkle to his expression. He was smiling a soft, gentle smile that caught Essek off guard. “What can I get you this morning?”At Xhorhaus Bakery, where the Mighty Nein bake up Rosohna's most delectable treats, magic is something that is in the air. For Essek Theylss, there might just be love there too. *COMPLETED*
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 509
Kudos: 1026





	1. Build Me Up (Buttercup)

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t have any excuse for this besides have a cute modern with magic bakery shadowgast AU in this trying time with a healthy dose of food description and stressed businessman Essek trying to find love in a modern with magic world. If people would like me to continue this, let me know!
> 
> Recommended listening: Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations
> 
> _Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby  
>  Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around  
> And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby  
> When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still  
> I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin'  
> You know that I have from the start  
> So build me up (build me up) Buttercup, don't break my heart_
> 
> Enjoy!

Essek often wondered if he was born cursed, or if his disdain for most living things rubbed off on his environment and made it almost impossible to function. It wasn’t as if he tried to be hateful or annoyed at most things in life, it’s just that most things were so thoroughly irritating that it was desperately hard to function. He wondered if everyone felt this way...or if it was only him. 

That was the thought that crossed Essek’s mind as he sat in traffic for ten minutes. His car, a shiny black new model grumbled in discontent as white fumes danced into the cold Rosohna air. His GPS finally pinged to let him know there was a road closure, and in a fit of desperation, Essek swung his car into the left lane and turned off the street and onto the next avenue. Rosohna was a relatively updated city, and having lived there all his life he tended to be able to navigate it well. This, however, would be an annoying detour. 

“Hey Hallas, text Leylas Kryn,” Essek asked as he tapped the steering wheel. He jabbed at his radio, turning off Marion Lavorre’s latest single half way through her call for her love to treat her the way she deserved. Good for her. 

“What would you like to say?” his phone asked him, lighting up from where it sat cradled on his dashboard. 

“Road closed, running late and won’t be able to go by your preferred coffee shop. GPS says I’m 15 minutes out. I’ll try to swing by another place on the way,” Essek said, as clearly and concisely as he could. Hallas managed to read back the message before Essek sent it. Almost immediately his phone pinged in response and the message was read out. 

"Alright. Thank you for letting me know, the ambassador is running late anyways so you have some time." 

Essek sighed, drumming his fingers with a bit more intensity. He didn’t like this day already and it had barely started. 

He plugged his GPS and looked for the closest coffee shop with the best reviews on the way. His GPS pinged with the place, a bakery called the Xhorhaus Bakery. It was a kitschy name, with a bare bones website, but it would just have to do. With few other options, Essek set his sights for the place. Essek pulled in at the quaint bakery, thankful for the empty parking spot in the front. Essek didn't like new things as a rule. New meant unpredictable and unknowable, and Essek prided himself on knowing everything that was going on all at once at all times. Essek rushed through the door, hand on his phone and tapping it to the parking monitor sensor. He caught a glimpse of frosted glass and pretty dark brick, but barely paid attention until he was in the door. 

His brain screeched to a grinding halt as soon as he walked through the door. 

It was utterly _magic_. That was really the only way to describe it. Display cases were bursting with pastel-frosted cupcakes and sugar-glazed fruit tarts. There were rows of sweets...golden dough puffs filled with ricotta and cherries and dusted with confectioners sugar, macarons arranged like beautiful shiny buttons, turnovers fashioned like ship masts, elephant ears, honey-buns shaped like bees, cookies pressed into whimsical shapes. There was a whole section for ice cream, waffles and crepes advertised on the weekends. Mothers and fathers cradled children and laughed as a bright blue tiefling dolled out what looked like free samples, a tall firbolg carrying a tray disappeared into the back as a half-orc came in to slide another tray of cookies into an empty rack. At the sit down section, a halfling and two human women of various sizes both carried trays of different styled cups and kettles to customers. The whole place had an eclectic vibe, like things had been found at consignment stores and sales and brought together to fill the place. Each table was different and the chairs were all different too in a way that looked half-planned and half-thrown together. Like the business had been a half-thought half-dream that had gained a foothold in wakefulness. 

Thankfully, Essek was in a line. He absorbed the information that lay before him quickly, as well as skimming the coffee menu that was emblazoned on the board in chalk. There were categories like, Breakfast with Beau, Bakery Favorites, and Cad’s Tea Corner. Bakery Favorites seemed to be the safest choice. The edges of the boards were doodled with flowers and cute animals and...was that a dick? No. Probably not he was just seeing things. Though it wasn’t an exact match to what his boss and her wife usually got, he hoped it would be good enough that she would forgive the difference and the lateness. 

He got up to the counter, having practiced his order in his head at least a dozen times. The wait time hadn’t been long, nor was the line. That at least was a benefit over the place he usually stopped to get his boss’s drinks. Their usual place was a trendy cafe with a dizzying variety of brews that was operated by people who looked down at you for not knowing a medium was a grande. Essek tended to feel safe in a place of rigid social roles like that, so it never bothered him. This was a new frontier. 

“Guten Morgen, welcome to Xhorhaus Bakery. How can I help you?” 

Essek’s mouth went dry. 

The face that met his was attractive in the very traditional Empire way. In fact, the man looking at him looked as if he had stepped right out of an Empire propaganda film espousing the ye olde Zemnian way of life. There were the deep set blue eyes, the long copper hair pulled out of the way in a bun. He had pale freckled skin and the shadow of a ruddy beard beginning at his jaw. There was a dusting of flour or sugar on his cheek, and he wore a simple white shirt with a blue apron tied at his hips. It wasn’t fair that he had to meet someone so attractive so early in the morning, Essek thought derisively. 

“One venti matcha latte with almond milk and a single pump of agave, one venti iced caramel macchiato, as light on the ice as possible, and one tall black coffee,” Essek said in a perfectly even and rehearsed tone, working past the fact he felt like he was being punched repeatedly in the face each time he noticed something new about the extremely handsome man. He was wearing a name-tag but he just couldn’t focus enough to read it. His hands were large. Really large. Gods above and below, were bakeries always this warm? 

“Which blend would you like for the black coffee?” 

“What?” Essek asked, startled because for some reason the handsome man was still talking to him. 

“For the black coffee,” the man repeated, pointing to the different...canisters? What did you call those? He didn’t know the word. Coffee-holder would be what he would call it in Undercommon. Essek didn’t like this. He was going off script. This was why he hated new places. “We have three blends. Dark, medium, and light.” 

Did it matter? Essek thought, now concerned that it did. He had always just assumed that the different types...obviously were roasted for different times. But it all tasted the same to him. 

“Dark,” Essek said, feeling as if this had been happening for an hour. He needed to go lay down. The handsome man began to press the buttons into his register, totally oblivious to Essek's mental duress. 

“Would you like anything else? We have some samples of our honey-buns,” the man said, motioning to the tray on the counter with bite-sized portions cut out. “They are our highest seller for breakfast items.” 

“I’ll take a dozen,” Essek said hurriedly. Hopefully this too would help ease the fact he was definitely late, plus, the office-girls always loved sweet things. He offered his card to the cashier, who motioned to the coins-only sign. “I’m sorry, sir. Card reader is down unfortunately. Haven’t had a chance yet to renew the enchantment.”

“It’s no problem,” Essek said, fishing out his coin purse and placing the coins into his hand. His skin brushed--hot, no he wasn’t thinking about it. 

“Of course,” the man said. “I’ll get that ready for you. I’ll need a name for the coffees though.”

“Essek.” 

“Thank you.” 

Essek stepped to the side, the place labeled with pick up. Essek stood there, trying to be interested in his phone. Empire News Network was reporting about some sort of sea creature sighting by sailors. He was more interested in the little white-board by the pick up station. Written in beautiful looping cursive was “Send me a Message!”, the name of the messaging and photo app that was popular nowadays. There was a list of names...most likely employees: @nottthebrave, @captntusktooth, @ohnoregard, @caddyshack, @orphanmaker, @littlesapphire, @caleb_widogast, and @frumpkinthefeyking. Above them all was @XhorhausBakery, the emblem with the little cat and the crown next to a tree. 

Bad idea, Essek thought, though his own Message was open. This was a bad idea. But which one was the hot cashier? It wouldn’t hurt...just to follow him would it? He needed to figure out which one of them was the hot cashier, but, he didn’t think he could look at the hot cashier for long without his eyes burning. 

“Coffees and honey-buns for Essek!” 

The cheerful accented voice came from the blue tiefling, who nearly leaned over the counter. She was dressed in a white dress and the blue apron, and wore a pink bandana tied to the top of her head in front of her curled horns. On the front of her apron was pinned the name tag, “Hi I’m Jester!” 

“You made the right choice, though I also love the elephant ears, oh and the macarons, but don’t get me started on the cupcakes!” Jester said excitedly, giving him the drinks in the drink holder and the box. The box itself was a simple robin’s egg blue, and it was tied with a pretty pink ribbon. “You should come back for the cupcakes! We enchant them so they give you different sensations as you eat!” 

“Are all the sweets here enchanted?” Essek asked, suddenly now very nervous about the box of treats he was holding. 

“Yep! We’re a maaaagic bakery,” Jester said, with her fingers wiggling on the word magic. Essek noticed a holy symbol of some sort tied to her wrist. 

“What do these do?” Essek asked, holding up the box. 

“Oh! Those? The honey changes flavors, and it gives the scent of flowers as you chew! Like a little bee going through a field,” Jester said excitedly. “Right Caleb?” 

Essek’s head whipped to the side so fast he probably almost broke something. There was a large hand that raised with a thumb’s up. Hot cashier was Caleb. 

“Thank you,” Essek said, and without any further ado he was out of the bakery like hellhounds were at his feet. 

Essek managed to get to the meeting within the bounds of polite lateness. The Bright Queen accepted her drink, as did her wife Quana. Essek handed the box of honey-buns off to the receptionists who took them gleefully. He spent the first part of the morning responding to emails and inquiries. He quickly got together the itinerary for her next visit to Assarius for the conference on magic education. He absently pawed at his coffee, taking a quick sip. The coffee was good enough that he paused for a moment, before shaking his head. It was all mental, after all, it was just black coffee. It didn’t stop him from downing it though. 

“Essek,” Leylas Kryn said as she left her office. Essek ripped his tome-pad from its charging station and followed her as he usually did. “Thank Luxon, at least you are able to keep appointments. Why are people so incapable of keeping to schedule. You took care of the itinerary?” 

“Yes, the schedule was sent out to you and the core ambassadors five minutes ago,” Essek said as he tapped the screen open. “Travel has been booked, your private plane should be ready to go at 8:00. Hotel at the Pillow Trove has been arranged--the Royal Suite, as usual. I also made sure to set restaurant options for you, though I have of course included both my recommendations as well as your travel agent.” 

“Tell Orphea that I said no on the model she chose for the Tal’dorei spread. I said I wanted young, fresh, illuminating. She sent tired and dowdy. We want people to be celebrating the Xhorhassian cultural boom, _the renaissance of our people might I add_ , and not rolling their eyes. Also RSVP that party Zethris Olios is holding if you haven’t done so.” 

“Already taken care of, ma’am. I told the driver to pick you up at 9:45 sharp, and made sure to request the drink selections for your entourage...in mini-bottles, of course.” 

“Wonderful work, Essek as always I know I can count on you,” she said with a nod before looking back at him. “And by the way, that latte you got me today was fantastic. I know Quana greatly enjoyed her drink as well. The girls were raving about those...uh...honey-buns all morning too. Make that your usual stop if you don’t mind. No use going to a coffee shop and a different bakery when you can just get everything at one place.”

Essek nearly tripped over his own feet, but managed to catch himself. After all, he couldn’t scuff his shoes. He had just bought them. 

“Of course,” Essek said, trying to write the reminder in his phone...his Message was just staring at him...hot cashier-Caleb taunting him. He had thought it would be one time. He could follow the man on his public Message page and ogle at him because he would never see him ever again. Attraction was so much neater and simpler if the people on the other end of it...well...if they were simply reduced to pictures of them and their cat maneuvering a coffee machine. 

It was fine though, Essek snapped at himself. He was an adult. He could deal with looking at an attractive man every morning. If anything, it would be a nice distraction from the daily grind. 

“Essek!” Maruo crowed from her office space as they walked by, her goblin ears perked up excitedly. “Those pastries you got were amazing! I was gonna eat the last one, but did you want it?” 

"No thank you...I don't particularly like sweets," Essek said, as graciously as possible. Leylas Kryn raised an eyebrow at him. She waved at Maruo who gave her the honey bun instead. 

"You don't like sweets?" she asked him, sounding extremely suspicious as they continued to walk. The sound of Leylas Kryn’s heels were enough to get everyone in the hallway to move out of her way. As they walked towards the elevator, the drow woman in it exited with a nod of her head and seemed content to wait for the next one. 

"Not really," Essek admitted. He couldn't remember the last pastry he had eaten. Part of the issue was that he didn't get very hungry. That morning he had a breakfast bar...the night before...well he had eaten leftover take out. He didn't remember eating lunch at all yesterday--he probably hadn't. He had been on the phone with the interviewer. Most of the time, he got home and was simply too exhausted to make a substantial effort. 

The other part of it was food didn't hold much appeal to him. He thought back to when he was growing...minimally but growing, and he had eaten two huge meals a day. He went out to dinner with these important executives and politicians now and picked at his plate. It took such an effort to get up in the morning and to do the things he needed to do that enjoying food was low on his priorities. 

"Eat it," she ordered, shoving the honey bun in his face as they walked out of the elevator and into the main lobby. "You need a little sweetening, Essek."

"Give him a whole box," Quana Kryn chuckled as she saddled up next to Leylas as they walked to the car. She was dressed in a power suit that immaculately matched Leylas’ little black dress and red pumps. It annoyed Essek how perfectly in sync they were, especially considering that Leylas left their house at least an hour before Quana so they didn’t even have time to coordinate. Did having sex regularly do that to a couple? Essek didn’t delve in much further with that line of questioning. 

"I am perfectly pleasant at all times," Essek said, with a signature smile. 

"Of course, but something sweet never hurt anyone," Leylas said with an irritatingly knowing gaze as the driver opened the door for them. “Follow us in your car?” 

“Yes, of course, I will meet you there,” Essek said, and then with a pop of the door and the engine, the Kryns were off to take on Rosohna. Essek stood on the curb for a moment, looking at the honey-bun he had in his hand. With all the excitement that a child had when taking a health potion, Essek bit into the pastry. 

It was a revelation. Still crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside. A smooth, mellow, and yet fragrant honey and cinnamon swirl sandwiched within layers of buttery, fluffy pastry. There was the scent of spring-time and lazy summer mornings when dew was fresh on the grass and wildflowers and there was that pleasant warmth in the air, and the frosting itself was vanilla and honey and just a dash of sea-salt. 

Before he realized it, it was gone from his hand. The magic had dissipated, and left him yearning for more. 

Oh no, he thought. This couldn’t end well.

* * *

With the Kryns at the conference for the week, one would think that Essek may have time to breathe. However, being one of the high-ranking people at the company meant that somehow he got even more mucked down in the day-to-day tasks. He did go to the Xhorhaus Bakery a few more times, but always called in his order ahead. He would catch a glimpse of Caleb, on occasion receive a smile or a welcome, before being handed his order and rushing right out. Essek could pretend it was the assistants' fault...or the marketing department, who were all actually obsessed with the treats he was bringing in on a daily basis. But really, he was the sucker making the point to go in there like some sort of lovestruck teenager to ogle at the cute boy behind the counter. 

When he finally arrived on his day off, it was a solid relief. Though, as usual for being a drow, Essek was up early and with little to do. Essek didn’t enjoy cleaning...he did have people who did that after all. He technically had a gym membership...but hated working out more than anything. He ought to visit his den, as any good drow boy did on his day off, but the idea of seeing his family tended to make him nauseous. His eyes caught a stack of books that he hadn’t gotten around to reading--

It was a bad idea...but he was going to do it anyway. He had never been a paragon of wisdom anyways. He dressed as comfortably as he ever let himself dress, after all, life was a performance. If he wasn’t wearing the absolute best, then he was always going to be judged as the absolute worst. And on top of that, Essek was a vain creature who spent a lot of money on deep conditionings for his curls and on his crystal facials (which, honestly, the crystals probably didn’t do anything but they felt expensive and Essek always liked feeling expensive). The one thing he could always control was the way he looked, and he liked looking good. 

With his black leather messenger bag slung on his shoulder, his peacoat buttoned, and his boots on, he headed out into the cold morning. In Roshona it was always night, but definitely not temperature controlled. Essek buried his chin more stubbornly in his scarf as he continued to walk through the streets. When he arrived at Xhorhaus Bakery, he felt appropriately wind-tousled and cold. The building itself was warm, and wafted the crippling good scents butter and vanilla to a distracting degree. 

It was busy, as Essek had guessed it would be so early in the morning. His shoulder was beginning to ache by the time he reached the front counter. But all of his earthly concerns were wiped away when he met Caleb’s blue eyes. He still wore the white shirt and apron that was the uniform most likely, but that day he was also wearing a button with a cat on his apron. He still looked devastatingly attractive in every possible way and it wasn’t fair because he looked like he had just rolled out of the bed. Essek needed at least an hour in the morning to talk himself into being even vaguely pleasant. 

“Oh! Guten Morgen, and welcome back to the Xhorhaus Bakery,” Caleb said, a certain pleasant crinkle to his expression. He was smiling a soft, gentle smile that caught Essek off guard. “What can I get you this morning?” 

“What do you recommend for coffee?” Essek asked him, placing his palms on the counter--stretching cold-bitten fingers. He was having heart palpitations, he was pretty sure. He kept trying to look at Caleb and he just couldn’t. It was like looking into the headlights of a car, it nearly burned his eyes. “I normally just drink black coffee but…” 

“I’ll make something for you then,” Caleb offered. “I have a drink in mind. I would also recommend our turnovers today.” 

“I’ll have that then,” Essek said, handing over his coins. Caleb took it, opened the ancient looking cash register and handed back the change. Essek slid it into the tip jar. 

“Danke. Is that for here or to go?”

“Here, thank you,” Essek said, reslinging the bag and going to find a table. 

Essek took a corner table by the window and set about settling in. He balanced his messenger bag on the extra chair before pulling out his books, parchment, and his fountain pen. Essek had always enjoyed spellcraft...he had majored in it in university. Advanced Dunamancy with a minor in Spellcraft Engineering. Gods, if there had been any sort of work besides military for wizardry Essek would have pursued it as a career. But the choice had been military or starving eternal adjunct professor and Essek didn’t find either attractive. Essek had applied for an internship at the government’s Cultural Offices, and had gotten that and through that had managed to work his way up to assistant to Leylas Kryn herself. 

It was a well paying job, with fashionable perks like fancy parties. But Essek didn’t love it. He was good at it, but he didn’t enjoy it. Essek didn’t enjoy much in life, so these little treasures he snuck were so much more important. 

He was in the middle of reading the second chapter of the Durolvir Lectures on Dunamancy when movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He lifted his head from his book just as the blue tiefling named Jester settled down the tray and the coffee. Her tail curled in the air like a cat catching the sight of something interesting to bat at. 

“You totally came back! I knew you would!” Jester said, leaning on the table. Her rather impressive muscles on this display and tipping the table slightly in her excitement. Essek scooped up his cup and the saucer to keep it from spilling on his book and on his notes. On the side of the cup it had the image of swans in a springtime scene, a rather quaint and adorable image. 

“I’m surprised you remembered me,” Essek noted, taking a sip of his coffee. It had milk, which was a departure from normal from him. It was smooth and creamy and honestly? The best cup of coffee he had ever had in his whole life. He hadn’t realized he had sighed until he saw Jester was still looking at him rather intently. 

“Well duh, of course I remember you. You’re hot boi!” 

“...hot boy?” Essek repeated somewhat incredulously. 

“I know your name, silly, but you are totally hot boy. Every time you’ve come in here you’ve ordered by phone, rushed in, and grabbed it. I was just surprised to see you actually sitting down this time, which you should do more because, like, we would get to hang out.”

“Well, thank you,” Essek said with a more legitimate smile. “Unfortunately, I am not very good company.” 

“I don’t believe that for a single minute,” Jester said suspiciously before shrugging playfully. “But it’s okay if you’re shy! Caleb can be shy too. So what do you do? Where are you from? What’s your mother’s name? Are you married?” 

“Are you always this curious?”

“Just about our regulars!” Jester chirped. “Ooookay maybe I lied, I’m curious about everyone but especially our regulars.”

“Well...I am not married. My mother’s name is Dierta Theylss, of Den Theylss. I am from here, and I am an assistant.” 

“Ooo, do you work for someone really cool?”

“Perhaps,” Essek said, settling down his cup as he felt that he was no longer in danger. “But I would like to keep some air of mystery.” 

“You are mysterious, Essek,” Jester said, utterly tickled-pink...or blue...by that. “Alright, well I gotta go get other people their things, I’ll be over here so just holler if you need something!”

“I will,” Essek promised but suddenly jumped as he felt the sensation of something brushing against his leg. He looked below to see a cat, a well-cared for orange tabby circling his legs. Essek was not used to cats...they were a rather foreign phenomenon that had just recently been introduced. Essek timidly reached his fingers out to brush his head and was rewarded with the creature butting its face against him. He yawned, gave him a slow blink, and then puttered off to parts unknown...which was a basket by the window. 

Now thoroughly distracted from his reading and with a plate in front of him, he took another crack at this sugar-thing. Essek took a bite from the turnover, and nearly groaned. The outside butter-puff-pastry was crisp, and the sugar nearly shattered. The inside was first caramel-apple and then it was sharp lemon and then again tart-sweet raspberry. He finished it quickly, taking long luxurious sips of his coffee after he did. Essek couldn’t help but wave over one of the servers he hadn’t met yet. It was the halfling woman who was balancing a tray full of plates and cups on her hip. On her shirt was a name tag that said “Veth”. 

“What’s up?” Veth asked curiously. 

“Do you know what sort of enchantment is being used in the baking process?” Essek asked. 

“It’s not an enchantment per say,” Veth said, brushing her apron with her free hand. “Caleb’s not an enchantment wizard, he’s a transmutation wizard.”

“Caleb is the one who developed this spell?” Essek asked. There was a fluttering of excitement in his chest. A wizard. Had someone magically engineered this man somewhere to make him absolutely perfect for Essek’s imagination? He came to this bakery to...well...enjoy his books and catch a few glimpses at the man. Essek hadn’t come there to get his heart stolen right out from his chest. 

“I helped him a bit, but yeah,” Veth said, tugging at her braid thoughtfully before she got a glint in her eyes. “If you are interested I’m sure he’d be happy to explain it to you.”

“Oh no, no,” Essek said, waving his hand desperately. Scripted conversations like ordering at the counter were totally fine. Essek enjoyed parameters and unspoken understandings of conduct, in fact, that was where he shined. But actually speaking to Caleb? Essek couldn’t think of anything more panic-inducing than that. 

“No, he’ll be absolutely thrilled!” Veth trilled excitedly. “I’ll go scrounge him up for you!”

She darted off before Essek could get in another word edgewise. This left Essek sitting there, his body nearly vibrating with uncontrolled dread. For a moment Essek seriously considered shoving his things into his bag and running out of the bakery. He wasn’t fast enough, however. As he saw Caleb pop out from behind the counter and begin to walk towards his table. He couldn’t risk never being able to come into this establishment ever again, so he just sat there as Caleb walked up to the table. He was taller than Essek had expected...maybe the counter had done something to his perspective besides giving him a barrier that allowed Essek to imagine that Caleb was some sort of perfect dreamt-up figment of Essek’s socially isolated imagination. 

“Veth said you had a question for me?” Caleb asked curiously. 

“Ah...it wasn’t anything so major...I was just curious about the spell used to change the flavors of the turnovers,” Essek said, taking a sip of his coffee to clear his suddenly clogged throat. He wished he could melt into the floor...to float away...to disappear completely. However Caleb’s open and earnest gaze kept Essek pinned there in the present. 

“It’s a modification of Minor Alchemy,” Caleb explained, taking the empty seat across from him. 

“Temporary changes the essence of one object into another for a short period of time,” Essek said, his fascination pushing back his embarrassment. “How do you do it on such a large scale then?” 

“I cast it on the filling as it’s being made,” Caleb explained, there was a certain twinkle in his eye. “Are you interested in spellcraft, Herr Essek? I see you are certainly reading some heavy texts.” 

“Oh,” Essek said, looking down at the books scattered about in front of him. “Wizardry is just a hobby of mind nowadays.”

“I don’t think Advanced Studies on Magic, Time, and Space sounds like a hobby,” Caleb joked, holding up the textbook before settling it down with a reverence that had Essek’s stomach twist. “Though I have to admit, dunamancy has been an area I’ve been extremely interested in since immigrating to Xhorhas.” 

“University is still selective...well, racist would be a better term for it...against Empire nationals,” Essek said softly, smoothing the page in front of him. “Unfortunately, it is just a hobby for me nowadays. I used to be a working wizard, but...well, the bills don’t pay themselves. It’s not a very interesting story so I won’t bore you with the details.” 

“I have been lucky enough to be able to use what I love every day with the help of my friends,” Caleb said with a knowing look. “I hope you can do that too at some point.” 

“Yes...I would like to think so,” Essek said, his fingers curling over the pages of his book. He met Caleb’s gaze and for a moment something passed between them that had Essek tingling all over and--

“Caleb, stop flirting and get back over here!” A gruff female voice called out from over the counter. The human girl in blue glowered over in their direction. Essek watched Caleb’s face turn a delightful shade of pink, unfurling across his skin like the petals of a distant flower. He was so very grateful for the shade of his skin concealing his own embarrassment. 

“I hope to see you here again sometime soon, Herr Essek,” Caleb said as he got up. 

“Just Essek,” he corrected. “And yes...sometime soon for sure.” 

Essek watched Caleb walk off, cradling the warm cup in his hands, and couldn’t help but smile.


	2. Blue Lemonade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He still looked devastatingly attractive in every possible way and it wasn’t fair because he looked like he had just rolled out of the bed. Essek needed at least an hour in the morning to talk himself into being even vaguely pleasant.
> 
> “Oh! Guten Morgen, and welcome back to the Xhorhaus Bakery,” Caleb said, a certain pleasant crinkle to his expression. He was smiling a soft, gentle smile that caught Essek off guard. “What can I get you this morning?”
> 
> At Xhorhaus Bakery, where the Mighty Nein bake up Rosohna's most delectable treats, magic is something that is in the air. For Essek Theylss, there might just be love there too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I was utterly floored by the amount of love I got on the first chapter of the fic, and so I felt that I had enough ideas and time to continue it. Seriously, thank you to everyone who supported chapter one, and here’s hoping you continue to enjoy this fic! Considering I’m still in a quarantine, I have plenty of time on my hands lol. But your comments definitely move me forward and keep me inspired!
> 
> I took inspiration from the food section of the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, so let me just say, thank you so very much Essek server for helping me! You guys are, as always, the best. If anyone is interested in recipes, I have pretty detailed notes about most of the foods that appear (even if it's just in name). Let me know and I'll add them to the end notes!
> 
> Recommended listening: Blue Lemonade by Red Velvet (translated from Korean)  
>  _Fill my cup, I smell the sweet scent of the ocean (Pop pop)  
>  I keep drinking but you keep rising as if it’ll overflow (Pop pop)  
> I must tell you, I like you (Pop pop)  
> Shades of blue arise, the moment I hug you_
> 
> _It’s so perfect  
>  Nothing more I want than just us two  
> Summer night  
> Our love is melting in my mouth_

"Well, what's got you in a mood? Your resting bitch face is worse than usual,” Lythir noted, taking a sip from his mimosa. Essek set down his own drink and gave him a look. “That’s not making it any better.” 

“I don’t have a resting bitch face,” Essek noted very pleasantly as he flipped through the menu. The place was in the trendy upscale shopping district of Rosohna, promising gourmet modern-Xhorhassian cuisine served on shiny white plates and all deconstructed to the highest fashion. It was a bit pretentious, even for Essek. For example, why did all the drinks have to be in mason jars? But he hadn’t picked the place that had been Lythir. Though, Essek was sure he was going to have to be the one to foot the bill. 

Lythir was looking back at him expectantly. He was an old acquaintance of Essek’s, who worked at one of the premier newspapers in Rosohna. There were plenty of reasons that Essek preferred other people’s company over Lythir. He tended to be dour, self-important, and pretty annoying in general. Essek didn’t like most people, and he especially disliked people who felt they had something to prove. One’s business should remain their own. But Lythir had always done good work for the cultural office, and always gave Essek the head’s up when something big was happening. So, at the very least, Essek owed him to hear him out no matter how absolutely obnoxious he was being. 

“Well, you are a resting bitch so…” 

“I didn’t invite me out to brunch, that was you. This is your fault, so you don’t get to complain about me. If you want someone to complain about me to, you should have invited your husband,” Essek said shortly. Essek would have preferred Lythir’s husband to be there anyways. He was a stylish, soft-spoken individual who was the head of a non-profit that helped place refugees in housing and set them up with job assistance. Essek actually enjoyed his conversation, as opposed to Lythir. But it was what it was. 

“Oh get that stick out of your ass, Theylss. I invited you here for a reason...well, that and getting drunk.” 

“I suppose my company is not enough,” Essek sighed dramatically. 

“Oh, please. As if you don’t purposefully make yourself the least friendly person to interact with on a daily basis on purpose.” 

“We both know that’s not true. You hold that distinct honor.” 

“Oh shut up,” Lythir said, his expression pinching. “You always have to be so clever.”

“Are we ready to order?” the waitress asked, walking over to them slowly, as if the ground itself was triggered with traps like some ancient dungeon. 

“I’ll have the Eggs Uthodurn,” Essek ordered, closing the menu and sliding it to her. He smiled his best smile at her, the one he often put on to comfort interns trembling at the sound of his boss’s heels...before they realized it was him they needed to watch for. She looked relieved. 

“On a bagel or Uthodurnian muffin?” 

“The muffin please.” 

“Salad or home fries?” 

“Salad.” 

“And for you sir?” the waitress asked Lythir. 

“Full Xhorhassian Breakfast,” Lythir said lazily, not even bothering to look at her. “Bagel and eggs scrambled.” 

“Thank you,” Essek said to the waitress who smiled and hurried away. Essek turned his gaze back to Lythir, keeping his expression decorated as naturally as he could. "So what was it that you wanted to speak to me about?" 

"Though in theory we have moved away from the 12 Den Form of Government, we all know that it still exists," Lythir said, taking out his little notebook. "Your little brother is about to find himself in some hot water if he doesn't cool his current investigation. I know he thinks he’s some hot shot ye old Taskhand, but we all know that it’s the case." 

"Of course he is," Essek snorted as he rested his chin on his palm as he continued to look towards Lythir. "What did he do this time?" 

"Investigated a high ranking member of Den Beltune for corruption," Lythir said, opening his notebook. "Bribery and intimidation, the usual. Oh but a dash of insider trading is the scary thing, isn’t it?"

"Verin can never leave well enough alone," Essek sighed deeply, taking a long drink from his cocktail. It was so unwieldy to drink a Bellini from a mason jar, but he was making due regardless. "It's part of his nature." 

"So are you going to stop him or what?"

"I'll do what needs to be done for all of our sakes." 

"That's cold," Lythir noted with a chuckle and a shake of his head. 

"Perhaps," Essek said tiredly. "Was that the only reason you dragged me out here in your quest to protect the realm, Lythir? 

"That, and I love the pissed off look you give every time you have to say Verin's name." 

"Truly, your company is a Luxon's blessing." 

The rest of brunch was a lackluster affair…mostly due to Lythir's sub-par company. Essek couldn’t even eat three bites without feeling queasy. No, it wasn’t that he was suddenly concerned about his brother. He couldn’t care less about that. It was more the feeling that all of this was going to become a migraine if he didn’t get out in front of it. Essek sighed as he climbed into his car, shooting a text to his mother. She was home, apparently going to the Temple to worship later. Lovely, but better to do this sooner rather than later. He gritted his teeth, pulled out from the curb, and drove towards the Theylss family home. 

The townhouse was in the Firmaments, the most upscale district in Rosohna. When Essek pulled next to the curb, and was immediately met with a housekeeper before he could ring the doorbell. Essek gave him his jacket and was led into the living room where his denmother was waiting. The whole house itself was styled classically. Heavy curtains, arches, marble statues, Vermelock purple woods and wallpapers, luxurious tapestries and paintings of Theylss members since...well...since his mother had first put a name to her fame. She was laying back on the chaise lounge, with a mug of something in her hands. 

“Am I interrupting something?” Essek asked dryly, noting his mother’s general state of undress. She was wearing a silk robe, and lingerie that was lacy and very revealing. He resisted the urge to turn around and stare at the wall. He was an adult, but still, even the slightest inclination of his mother’s sex life was enough to make him want to gouge his own eyes out with a spoon. 

“Oh please, don’t be dramatic. It’s the morning,” Dierta Theylss said with a sigh as she sat up, looking oh so pleased with herself. 

“It’s half-past twelve.” 

“It’s morning somewhere, and I had a very good night, and I’m in my own house,” she said, taking the reserve of almond liqueur and pouring at least a double shot into her coffee. “I’m allowed to be dressed however I wish. 

“I beg of you, don’t tell me how your night was. I really, really don’t want to know.” 

“Essek, please, I thought when you became an adult we would be able to talk candidly about things. You hurt your mother’s feelings.” 

It was just then that Dierta’s current husband walked down the stairs. It was hard to keep track...but Essek was sure this was the fourth one in his lifetime. A handsome half-orc man...who of course was younger than Essek technically though he was somewhere in his forties. Essek couldn’t remember his name. Garrall? Gurak? Something like that maybe? He gave Essek a slow, awkward wave before grabbing coffee and then booking it back upstairs to avoid the oncoming storm. Good, Essek thought. He might actually like this new stepfather of his...though he was pretty sure that they had been married for at least two years. Did that count? Oh, whatever. He at least wasn’t as dense as the last one who had always smelled of mothballs and couldn’t keep from blathering about his stocks in Whitestone residuum. 

“I didn’t come here for a social visit, Mother,” Essek noted, taking the glass that was offered to him by the servant before sitting in the empty love-seat. He settled it down, not touching it. No use in getting too comfortable, after all, these conversations tended to be short and fraught with danger. He needed all his faculties working for this. 

“Of that I’m perfectly aware, you don’t do social visits. I can only assume that you did something and you need your mother’s help to clean up your mess,” she said, taking a drink. She motioned and the servant raced to refresh her cup. She took another lazy sip, gazing at him from over the rim as she did. There was something lurking there that always put him on edge, but it was more prominent now. 

“Not my mess,” Essek corrected, intertwining his fingers and resting them on his knee. “Verin’s mess. Verin’s mess that always ends up being my mess somehow.” 

“You mean Verin’s little pet project? His corruption investigation?” Dierta asked, tracing the rim of her mug with a manicured finger. “Oh yes, I’ve heard about it.” 

“And you haven’t done anything about it?” Essek asked, leaning back and crossing his legs. “What’s your plan then?” 

“Whatever could I do to dissuade him? You, on the other hand, may have more luck than I did.” 

“No,” Essek said angrily, the realization striking him quickly with the force of a hard slap. “No, this is not something you are going to pass off to me. I am only here out of respect to you, I’m not here to play your errand boy.” 

“Essek, you and I both know that things go better when you just listen to me,” Dierta said, her face hardening and Essek could nearly see her assume the ancient, feared, and coveted role of denmother right there. You are my son, and you will abide by me is what she didn’t say. It was the threat that was inherent in her tone. She was his denmother, even though in theory they had long since abandoned the practice. In fact, she was still one of the most powerful people in Rosohna. As soon as she had dawned the role like a heavy mantle it was gone and replaced with something cloyingly sweet. “You are my favored son for a reason. Now, listen to your mother. I have a plan.” 

“I don’t want to hear it,” Essek said, standing up out of his seat. “You can just speak to Verin directly. I’m not playing this game of yours anymore, this is exactly the reason why I moved out of this godsforsaken house.”

“You know he doesn’t listen to me once he’s got an idea in his head.”

“He doesn’t listen to me either. In fact, he hates me so whatever plan you have concocted in that brain of yours isn’t going to work. This was obviously just a waste of my time,” Essek told her shortly, yanking his jacket from the coat hanger. The servant looked pissed, and Essek leveled a glare that had him scurrying backwards. 

“Essek, tell me, what happened between you and Verin anyways?” she asked idly, as if it had nothing to do with her. Essek bristled even further if that was even possible under the circumstances, and felt his mouth twist further into a deep grimace.

“Can’t you tell?” Essek asked her with a sour grin. “It’s because I’m too much like you.” 

“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Dierta huffed impatiently, but Essek was already out the door and to his car. He slammed his door shut, punched in his brother’s number and sped off from the curb towards his house. Essek almost immediately hit both traffic and Verin’s voicemail. Almost at his wit’s end, he tapped the wheel impatiently. 

“Verin,” Essek said shortly, glaring heatedly at his phone. “Don’t be an idiot. Be smarter than whatever you are up to, because it’s not just your ass on the line here and I will not help you.” 

Essek cut the line and stared at the traffic ahead of him. He continued to sit there, stewing on his distaste for everything for a bit before he just got tired of that and his attention wandered. He cast a look towards his messenger bag...the one he had gotten into the habit of keeping in his car just in case. It was looking up at him judgmentally…. as if saying he was weak and sentimental. He didn't need to go to the bakery, to soak in its atmosphere like it was a warm bath at the end of a particularly stressful day. He could read his books and answer Messages at home. But nothing about driving back to his empty cold apartment seemed appealing at that moment. 

He was a weak selfish creature, after all. And so he turned left...to the Xhorhaus Bakery. 

The bakery itself was buzzing with the usual amount of activity, on account of it being the afternoon. There were two lines, one for the regular register and the displays of sweets. At the other, Fjord and Caduceus (as he had learned from his previous trips) were making crepes and waffle cones for children to place their ice-cream. In front of them, trays of toppings like fruits, square jellies, jewel-colored syrups and jams and whipped creams, different flavored tapioca balls, a rainbow of sprinkles, and homemade candies and crushed cookies. Essek got up to the register and noticed immediately that Caleb wasn't there (not to his disappointment, he was not disappointed, it was foolish to be so and the last thing that Essek was, was foolish). Veth was also nowhere to be seen. He was met with Jester who smiled happily at him, as if there were no one in the world she would rather see. It helped lessen the sting of definitely not disappointment greatly. 

"Hi Essek!" Jester greeted, meeting his gaze before a grin curled over his lips. "Caleb's in the back right now."

"I didn't need to know that," Essek said with a sigh. 

"Sure you didn't. But in the meantime we do have Widogast's Wall of Infamy," Jester said, pointing to the aforementioned sign. On it were recommendations of the different pastries and food available that day. Essek swept them with his gaze, memorizing the neat scrawl that had to be Caleb's handwriting. It was beautiful, well practiced, the show of an educated hand. Just another thing to obsess about that he didn’t need to, Essek thought annoyed at his own obviousness. 

"I'll do one tall black coffee and...uh...whatever the daily triple threat is." 

"Oh my gosh, cupcakes!" Jester said excitedly, tail moving back and forth with her eagerness as Jester accepted Essek's payment. "They definitely won't let you down, Essek. You are gonna love them. I'll have Beau bring everything over in a sec!"

Essek sat himself in his usual corner seat and began setting himself up for work. His tome-pad angled up, and his books for after settled in a neat pile. Leylas Kryn got about twenty or more serious business requests every day, and Essek knew from experience which ones were worth going over with her and which ones weren't. He still attempted to be kind and courteous however, besides, who knew if certain products would take off? Always good to leave the door open for later. Having more ammo to arm himself with was never a bad thing. 

"Here you go, black coffee and daily triple threat," Beau said, settling down the tray with a thump that made Essek jump. She began to speak with all the enthusiasm of a secretary at the Department of Magical Artifacts. "Our specials today are our Wildemount Drinks cupcake collection. First cupcake on the left is a Queen's Water cupcake, a honey cake with a guava filling and a tamarind-vanilla buttercream. Second cupcake is a Radler cupcake, a vanilla-beer cake filled with a lemon curd and topped with a tangy lemon cream cheese frosting. Final cupcake is a Yunfaalyu--yes I know I totally butchered the pronunciation--decadent chocolate cake with a current jam filling, vanilla frosting and a plum liqueur drizzle. Each cupcake is enchanted to give you a different sensation." 

Each cupcake looked like a treasure chest, decorated and drizzled and shiny. Each cupcake was almost too much of a display to consider blemishing. From the candied lemons on the Radler to the swirl of the tamarind-vanilla frosting to even the glisten of the drizzle. It all screamed a level of care and attention that Essek didn't exactly feel deserving of. All of this came from Caleb’s mind, he knew it. But what a wonderful, beautiful place that mind must have been. It made him yearn, impossibly, faithfully for something that he didn’t even have the words for. He hadn’t thought he was empty before, but now he felt downright cavernous. 

"I probably can't eat all of these by myself," Essek said guiltily. "I didn't realize they were so big." 

"You look like you could use it," Beauregard noted, leaning against the table. Her muscles flexed with the effort."You're like a fucking stick." 

"Why, thank you," Essek said sarcastically before giving her another look. "You don't strike me as the bakery type." 

"I'm not, I'm a member of the Cobalt Soul," Beauregard said with a shrug, naming the international organization of monks. In the time of war they had been covert operatives and general badasses. Now they served as a peace-keeping and rebuilding operation for people in almost every country in Wildemount...though supposedly they were still general badasses. "Caleb's my friend, and this is my side gig. Self-defense instructor and part time librarian doesn't pay a whole lot." 

"I see," Essek said, blinking. He didn’t really understand why she would be under-selling her job, but, it wasn’t his business and he didn’t care enough to dig into the specifics. Information was important, but too much was a burden to saddle yourself with. 

"Plus, you need at least two strong people to carry wedding cakes. Me and Yasha tend to do that," she explained, flexing her arm to show off her bicep. 

"I'm sorry, wedding cakes?" Essek asked curiously. 

"Oh, right, I keep forgetting it's a Dwendalian thing. During the reception of a wedding in the Empire, you have a cake. Not just any cake, it can be...like...up to six tiers or more," Beau aided her visual by miming stacking. "And they are decorated, with sugar flowers and other things. I mean, it's all gross and sentimental but they are beautiful. You cut the cake together at the wedding, feed each other and the party starts. Asshole couples might smush it in each other's faces but, like, that's real old fashioned and also a horrible tradition." 

"That's...surprisingly tender," Essek said, unable to visualize what something like that would feel like. The idea of feeding another person, it had to be intimate. It was a way that food became another vehicle for affection. It was surprising to hear about such a tradition from the Empire, the salt-of-the-Earth and cold-barbed-wire fence country that it was. Then again, people were people no matter where they came from. Being in love was a universal thing...not that Essek had any experience with it. "It's lovely." 

"Yeah, well, don't get your panties in a knot about it. We don't do many wedding cakes here, but Empire immigrants like us, and those people marrying immigrants, are starting to come in asking for them. Caleb and Veth are in a consultation about a wedding cake now for a couple. Why? Are you in the market for one?" Beauregard asked, her expression searching. 

"Oh no, no," Essek said with a desperate shake of his head. He didn't know how much of this conversation would get back to Caleb, and that idea was mortifying enough. He didn’t need Caleb also thinking he wasn’t available...not that it mattered at all. "Definitely not." 

"Well then," Beauregard said shortly. "Good luck with the cupcakes." 

She trudged off, leaving Essek to it. It was in that moment, sitting there in the busy bakery bereft of an audience to perform for, that he finally felt himself decompress. He almost had to check his ears to make sure steam wasn't coming out. Life didn't look so bad, with a cup of coffee and cupcakes sitting in front of you. There was something about the visceral comfort of it all that made the knot in his chest that was forever tight just loosen just a little. Essek took a sip of his coffee before reaching to pick which cupcake he was willing to try first. It was all so tempting, even though Essek still swore to himself that he didn’t like sweets. 

Essek cut the first cupcake, the Queen’s Water cupcake so he could get a bite of frosting, filling, and cake all at once. The cake itself was tender and almost melted in the mouth was delicately sweet with the honey and warmed with spices, countered by the intensely flavorful guava, and the sour-sweet punch of the tamarind-vanilla frosting. Immediately as he tasted it… he was enveloped by the flavor dancing on his tongue, with his next breath in he was filled with the sensation of warm sand against his fingertips, a cool breeze and the glittering sapphire waves of the Menagerie Coast around his knees. As soon as it was there, it dissolved like sea foam the moment he finished the bite. 

Essek did not hesitate before his next bite, the Yunfaalyu cupcake. Yunfaalyu was a popular traditional Xhorhassian drink, something Essek had grown up drinking on special occasions and on the holidays. It was traditionally a plum liquor served frigid-cold over ice and topped with currants. Every family had their own method of serving it and most families were a little obsessed with it. Plums were considered the Queen of Fruit in Xhorhas for a reason, and the drink was considered a delicacy by all rights. Essek had enjoyed plums soaked in it, eaten Yunfaalyu poured over shaved ice on hot summer nights. He had never had it in a baked good before, and was now wondering how he had spent his whole life without it. Chocolate was a relatively new import from Tal’dorei, fashionable as drinks served as powder stirred in hot milk with spices. In a cupcake it was a revelation in the way it melted sweet and bitter all at the same time. The currant jam was tart, smoothed over by the creaminess of the frosting. It was the plum liquor that transported him this time. The tingling on his tongue when he breathed, he was surprised to see his breath not swirl white. A cold Xhorhassian winter night, a scarf wrapped around his neck, snowflakes brushing his cheeks and his eyelashes, and the warmth of a crackling hearth. Again it was gone within the space of a breath. 

The final cupcake, the Radler, awaited for him. He took his next bite, now expecting it to be bone-shatteringly good. The cake was so flavorful, light and yet had a deep earthy quality. It was counteracted by the sharp-sour-sweet lemon curd, and the tang of the cream-cheese frosting. It’s sharpness eased into something sweet and citrus and almost addictive as he couldn’t stop himself from taking another bite. Immediately, he realized that this was the taste of summer, like long grasses and dandelions brushing his fingertips and the hum of insects in his ears. He could feel the heat of the sun, something so unfamiliar and yet unmistakable, like golden comfort being settled upon his shoulders. It was like stepping into a warm bath...and yet more ethereal and it somehow soaked in deeper. It reached right down to the core of his heart, where almost nothing penetrated. This was a gift to someone who could never feel the sun as anything but pain. 

He sniffed and bit back something that felt suspiciously like tears but definitely were not. But whatever scratchy feeling he had at the back of his throat had nothing to do with stupid, soft, gentle wizards who used their magic to let some poor drow fool feel sunlight. Essek was broken out of his revelry by the feeling of the cat, Frumpkin jumping up into his lap. 

“Oh!” Essek greeted, looking at the wide yellow eyes that looked up at him curiously. For a moment he could have sworn they flashed blue, but then they settled back into a warm gentle yellow. Essek tentatively placed his fingers under Frumpkin’s chin, and watched as Frumpkin actively leaned into Essek’s scratching. His fur was soft to the touch, unlike most animals he had pet before. His purring caught him off guard, because he had certainly read of cats purring he hadn’t realized you could feel it. It was a delightful little sensation as Frumpkin settled on his lap for a nap. Essek probably should have been more concerned about the state of his pants...cat fur would probably show up on them. But he didn’t find that he cared. 

Essek sat for a bit, finished the Radler cupcake and his coffee. He thought about ordering another coffee, but as soon as he did he noticed that Caleb had appeared from the back and didn’t think he was strong enough to speak to him. Just tasting what he had created was enough for his poor heart for one day. Caleb looked at the person ordering warmly, welcoming, and it made his heart fluttered in his chest. That was enough to make clear to Essek that he had definitely made the correct decision. 

You will just have to continue to be my private daydream. My sweet and soft when everything is terrible. The shot straight to my heart, my never-ever-might-have-been. And I'll just have to be content with my lot, that I've known just the tiniest sliver of your heart that you've served to me on a silver platter. Essek thought idly as he tapped the next image on his tome-pad. No use in being greedy. This is just enough to make me not so miserable as I was two hours ago. 

"Here, something you might like," Caleb's voice startled Essek out of his daydreams immediately. Essek looked to see Caleb settling a cup of coffee of some sort in front of him, having appeared out of the haze of Essek’s thoughts and back into Essek’s reality. 

"I didn't order anything," Essek said, voice devoid of any normal emotion and instead sounding like he was slowly being tortured for information somewhere in an Empire bunker like in one of the old movies. 

"It's on the house," Caleb said as Essek reached for his wallet. The cat in his lap perked up, delicately maneuvered across the table ladened with the fruits of Caleb’s labor, before settling on Caleb's lap. It left Essek feeling strangely bereft and cold. Caleb was holding his own cup, and looked a bit concerned. "Were they not to your liking?"

Caleb motioned to the two partially eaten cupcakes remaining. Only the Radler, the sunshine cupcake, had been completely devoured. 

"Oh, no! No," Essek denied quickly. "They were all delicious. It's just...one was quite enough to fill me up." 

In actuality he probably should have eaten more. He hadn't eaten breakfast, and taken maybe three bites of his brunch. It was strange though, where most food settled in his stomach like lead...it was different here. Everything he ate here had an intensity of flavor that Essek wasn't used to. It had to be the magic, but...he didn't really care. More than anything, he wanted to let the taste of that last bite of that Radler cupcake linger as long as possible. 

"If I must confide...the Radler is my personal favorite from that batch of recipes," Caleb said, sounding relieved while sipping out of his own cup. Essek looked at the mug Caleb had placed in front of him. Noticing his look, Caleb motioned towards it more firmly. “I hope you enjoy that.” 

Essek took it and took a sip. It was a flat white, the strong taste of the espresso and the smooth mouthfeel of the milk. There wasn’t any sugar in the cup...after all the sweets Essek doubted he would be able to take that. He sighed deeply, fingers curled around the mug itself as the warm radiated into his fingertips. Almost immediately Essek realized what he was doing and forced himself back into his own mind. Caleb was looking at him expectantly. 

“Tell me something,” Essek said, feeling rather brave in spite of himself. It wasn’t a smooth segue but at least he was talking in an even and normal tone. “When you bake the magic in...how do you compensate for the components? I mean...I hope you aren’t putting fleece into your cupcakes.” 

“Ah, you so caught the major image,” Caleb said, sounding delighted. 

“I’m sorry, is that a trade secret?”

“Oh no, no. I’m just not used to people so interested in the how, they are more interested in the results,” Caleb said, waving his hand as if to dismiss his worries. “We draw the essence of the spell out and soak it into the water we use to mix each batter.”

“Truly...it’s fascinating how you are utilizing magic for different purposes,” Essek noted, settling his hand on his notebook. “How did you come to this conclusion, this bakery, if you don’t mind me asking? You are a very talented wizard, and this is a rather...well unorthodox profession for a wizard.” 

Caleb paused for a moment, considering the question as he scratched under Frumpkin’s chin. The cat meowed lazily, caught in the middle of a purr. Caleb smiled at it, before picking up his cup once again. 

“When we all first came here...things were difficult,” Caleb explained, looking into his cup. Today his hair was back in a loose low ponytail, that drew Essek’s eyes to the nap of his neck. Was there no part of him that wasn’t ridiculously attractive? “We were all just scraping by. If you can believe it, we all met in an inn on the way to the border and we just decided to stick it out together. Some of us...weren’t lucky enough to make it. When we got here, things were hard but better. Back then, though I loved magic it reminded me of a lot of terrible things in my life, not to get too personal about it. Veth asked me to think of something I loved that I could do. And I could only think about magic, finding a way to do magic in a way that would make me and everyone I had come to care about happy. My mother had always loved cooking and baking, and doing so reminded me of her. So, I just thought one day, to the Nine Hells with it. Combine them both and see what I get. I’ve been so lucky in a lot of ways, but the fact it all worked out is at the top of the list.” 

“We are lucky to have you,” Essek said, hoping that sentiment didn’t sound too contrived. 

“I’m not sure what the neighbors thought of us at first,” Caleb chuckled, deep from his belly, and the sound nearly sent a flush to the tips of his ears. Of course Essek had watched Empire programming once in a while. His mother thought television was gauche at the best of times, but Essek had found ways to sneak entertainment out from under her. Say what you would about the Empire, their television at least was far more entertaining then the how-many-different-channels-do-you-need-to-praise-the-Luxon slop you got in the Dynasty. He had read some interesting articles about how it was all a bread-and-circuses strategy by the Empire to lull their citizens into complacency, which was all fine and good and evil, but with hunky human men daring to brave the unknown in scripted series about adventurers? It went down easy and made very good entertainment. The voices of those old fashioned stars had always been deep timber that Essek guessed was natural to humans. He hadn’t realized how attractive it could be...until this particular human male was sitting in front of him. 

“I think you’ll find that a lot of people’s lives have improved with you here,” Essek said, settling his mug down primly and with his best aristocratic sniff. “I think you’ll just have to take my word for it.”

“Ja, I just might,” Caleb said, raising the mug to his mouth. His blue eyes sparkled mirthfully, like the dream of that summer day baked into a single cupcake.

* * *

“Stop being evil for like, ten minutes and seriously consider the proposal,” Professor Waccoh demanded of him. Essek looked up from his phone to look at her and met her glare. 

“I did consider it. It was stupid and so I stopped considering it,” Essek said, completely deadpanned. “If that’s being evil, then consider me the evilest man alive.” 

“Kryn wanted something to show the majesty of our nation! Our technological advances are something we should be proud of. If you showed approval she'd consider it.” 

“Nothing about giant machines that move through the streets makes any sense.” 

“They would have purpose and make sense, you are just thinking too small.”

“I am not helping you bring that in front of Leylas Kryn. You go ahead, but it does not have my stamp of approval,” Essek told her. 

"Cheapskate," Professor Waccoh accused. 

"Bite me,” Essek said as pleasant as could be. 

“I wouldn’t want to poison myself.” 

“They are ready in there,” the secretary said, poking her head out of the meeting room. Essek put on his professional face and then walked through the door. 

The discussion at hand was the 10th Anniversary of Peace, the date that marked the beginning of what people were calling the golden age of Xhorhas. It was rather pretentious if Essek thought about it, but it wasn’t his job to judge. Really, it was his job to be there and take down notes and to know what his boss liked or didn’t like based on her subtle facial expressions. Essek had always been good at that, having been trained from the days in Den Theylss with his mother breathing down his neck to always know what it took to be on someone’s good side. By the end of the meeting, Essek had whittled the list of suggestions down to three before Leylas Kryn adjourned the meeting for a break. 

Essek stood by the juice machine, deciding what healthy-concoction-monstrosity he wanted to put into the temple of his body as Quana Kryn saddled up next to him, taking a sip from her own cup. Golden eyes searched his face before a smile pulled at her mouth. Quana Kryn had always been the more approachable of the two, but it didn’t make her any less intimidating as she nearly towered over Essek. Today she wore suspenders with her suit, and certainly enough of the office staff had swooned over it to make someone force her to put on a jacket. Leylas could be considerate like that. 

"Tell me, what did you think of Waccoh's little idea there?" Quana asked congenially. It startled Essek, only because they didn’t really talk too often. Obviously he worked closely with Leylas and he was often the butt of passing jokes, but Quana just drifted in and out of his purview the way most people did. There was obviously something she wanted, and he would just have to figure out what it was on the fly. 

"The good professor has amazing ideas, but unfortunately the follow through is a bit lacking," Essek said simply. 

"Cheeky," Quana scoffed, before pinching the bridge of her nose. She took in a deep steadying breath. "I'm not getting enough sleep. This Vow Renewal is driving me crazy."

"Ah, well, that's the price of love I suppose," Essek said, sipping his green juice and trying not to cringe. It tasted like barley and cucumbers, but not in a pleasant way. There was something sharp and metallic in the back of his throat making it difficult to swallow. 

"I, of course, love my wife more than anything. And of course, Vow Renewals are how we show that in the Temple. But if I have to talk to another person about the flowers or what dress Leylas will be wearing, I will dust off my sword," Quana sighed, leaning against the wall in a way that was so practiced and easy that Essek was jealous. "It makes it all the worse that it’s going to be televised. I don’t know what we are going to do for the reception. Tell me, Essek...I’m just realizing this, that I haven’t the slightest clue about you. Do you have a girlfriend?” 

“I don’t,” Essek said.

“A boyfriend? Partner?” 

“No, I have no significant other,” Essek said before casting a suspicious eye towards her. “Why?”

“I was just wondering if you had any ideas. I know that’s not what you do, but I know that’s what you do.” 

Essek thought for a moment, before throwing his cup away. The contents splattered on the trash bag as he did so with little regard. 

“Have you heard about wedding cakes?” Essek asked curiously. 

“No, what is that?” 

“An Empire tradition that’s becoming popular amongst the people,” Essek explained, pulling out his tome-pad as he searched up a familiar name. “I figure if the strength of our nation is how we actively welcome people into our country, this might be a good opportunity to demonstrate that.” 

“And I suppose you have a recommendation for me to pass to the Misses?” 

“Always,” Essek said with a smile.


	3. Sweet Caroline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He still looked devastatingly attractive in every possible way and it wasn’t fair because he looked like he had just rolled out of the bed. Essek needed at least an hour in the morning to talk himself into being even vaguely pleasant.
> 
> “Oh! Guten Morgen, and welcome back to the Xhorhaus Bakery,” Caleb said, a certain pleasant crinkle to his expression. He was smiling a soft, gentle smile that caught Essek off guard. “What can I get you this morning?”
> 
> At Xhorhaus Bakery, where the Mighty Nein bake up Rosohna's most delectable treats, magic is something that is in the air. For Essek Theylss, there might just be love there too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright everyone, I’m back again with another chapter of Labor of Love...my longest chapter yet, but mostly for plot reasons. There were definitely some moving parts I had to arrange. Thank you again, to everyone who has been so supportive about this fic! Your comments, likes, kudos, and reblogs have given me all the life. If you feel inclined, give me a review! Even if it's just a heart! <3 
> 
> Also, as someone from Red Sox Nation...Sam is right Sweet Caroline does sound better in the original abyssal lol

Essek took another sip of his tea as he gazed out the expansive windows of the Towers...the apartment building he lived in that was considered one of the nicer rental properties. Essek lived in a loft apartment, a spacious and airy abode-if not a little cold and impersonal. Essek usually didn’t mind that, seeing as he really only came home to eat and sleep and little else besides putting his stuff somewhere. (He did have a nice walk-in closet that he kept organized by color and style that he was exceedingly proud of, but that was neither here nor there.) Any apartment would have been fine, but what had attracted him to this place were the windows...large and taking up the wall almost completely. It gave him the view of the busy city that never slept in the eternal night, the buildings still bustling with activity, the cars that glided and moved like they were alive, the subway car that would always appear and roll across tracks from the depths only to disappear once more. Usually there was something soothing about being able to sit at his kitchen island with a mug of something warm and just...gaze outside. But that night, he felt chilled, and was determined to hold his mug just a little tighter to leech the warmth into his fingertips. 

Essek was just getting settled when his phone vibrated. Essek looked at it, saw the person who was calling him and frowned. 

"What?" Essek asked, as he raised the phone to his ear. 

"Let me in please." 

Essek sighed and went to press the buzzer. It took a minute or two before there was a knock at Essek's door, and his younger brother Verin appeared in his apartment. He was carrying a duffle bag, because of course he was and was still wearing his police uniform. Essek scowled at the sight and cringed as Verin haphazardly threw the duffle bag by his glass coffee table. 

"This is not a bed and breakfast," Essek told him shortly, leaning against the wall by the door. Verin stopped and seemed to actually look at him for the first time since arriving. 

"What? Were you expecting somebody?" Verin asked, sounding surprised and Essek looked down at his own outfit. He was wearing a pair of joggers and a crop top he wouldn't have anyone catch him dead in...though he didn’t care about Verin. Verin registered to Essek somewhere on the scale between ant and worm. Regardless, Essek still felt his face twist. 

"Do I look like I'm expecting someone?" Essek asked exasperatedly, raising his mug to his lips again and taking a sip. It was supposed to be some soothing blend that was popular, but Essek as usual found it flat and tasteless. It was really just the warmth he was after...as well as something to fill the time. 

"I don't know what your girlfriend likes."

"Shows what you know about me," Essek snorted into the steam, hoping the scent of green tea would relax him...it didn’t. "I was just having some time to myself...alone." 

"You mean, like always?" 

"Verin, seriously, what did you need besides daring me to murder you?" Essek asked, leveling a glare at his brother. 

"I've been working for like, 48 hours straight. I just need a shower and maybe an hour or two to trance. I'm begging you here." 

"You mean working on the thing I'm telling you not to bother with?"

"Yes, that. It's important." 

"Go home then."

"I have to drive like, 45 minutes to an hour with traffic. Come on." 

"Your girlfriend must not be happy with you," Essek observed with a sniff as he perched up on a stool by his island once more. Verin sighed deeply, palming the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"No...she's not. So please, Essek?" 

"Fine, just be quick about it." 

"Thank you," Verin breathed out, obviously relieved before walking off to the small side hallway. 

"Second door on the right!" Essek called after him. 

"Got it!" 

Essek sat there now, taking vengeful gulps from his mug. Girlfriend, he thought to himself, what a _joke_. But now that he was thinking about it, Quana had said something similar the day before yesterday. He hadn't ever "come out" to anyone as it were. Essek didn't really see the point in that mental exercise. It didn't change anything. After all, Essek hadn't even had a boyfriend before. A few late night fumblings that he hadn't enjoyed, yes. But he had sworn the whole thing off a while ago, it made things neater and more organized. He supposed the other added effect was he was essentially a stranger in everyone's life, but that wasn't a bad thing in his day to day dealings. 

Verin appeared again, showered and in sweats, and yanked open Essek's fridge derailing Essek's train of thought completely. 

"What did I say about my apartment not being a bed and breakfast?" Essek reminded him with a huff, slamming down his mug. He was probably being dramatic, but this was _his_ apartment. This was his space and Verin was just...rooting around like the little vermin he was. It reminded him of when they used to share a room as children...until Verin had found Essek’s journal and read it out loud to their older sister and Essek cast grease on him. It was one of those rare moments that his mother’s punishment fit the crime. They had been separated after that. 

"Holy shit, Essek. You've got like nothing in your fridge," Verin said with a horrified look before yanking open the freezer. "You don't even have pizza rolls." 

"Seriously, Verin? I will not desecrate my taste buds with pizza rolls." 

"What do you even eat, man?"

"The souls of the innocent. Now if you are going to completely disregard what I said? Fine. Beggars can't be choosers, eat some plums or something," Essek said, lobbing a fruit from the bowl in front of him at Verin's head. He caught it easily. Of course he did. The bastard. "I know you still have Mother hide your fruit in chocolate syrup, but…"

"Oh fuck off Essek," Verin said with a roll of his eyes and taking a bite of the plum. "I'm still doing my thing, by the way. You haven't scared me off."

"If you are here to gloat about your goodness like some kind of Luxon missionary find a hotel room please," Essek said with his chin held high. "I really don't care and I know trying to convince you is an exercise in futility." 

"Of course you care, you are the biggest liar I've ever had the misfortune of knowing," Verin said as he leaned against the counter. 

"You are right, I care, only because of the head ache it'll cause me in the long run, but I know that you don't care about being reasonable so go ahead. Crash and burn. I give you my permission." 

"I don't need your permission," Verin sighed before taking another look at Essek. "How are you, by the way?"

"Fine," Essek answered shortly. "Busy." 

"You are always busy, but...are you getting out? At all?" 

"No. I'm not. I'm busy." 

"Essek...seriously?" 

"I don't know what you want me to say." 

"I dunno...lie to me and tell me you are doing great?" 

"Fine, I'm doing _great_." 

"No, don't do that. That smile creeps me out." 

"Good." 

"I mean...have you put any thought into dating? At all?" 

"Because clearly that's going well for you," Essek said sarcastically. Verin gave him a stern look. 

"I know you don't like it, but I do worry about you," Verin said softly, tapping the island thoughtfully. "I hate you most of the time, because you are a bastard. But I do worry about you." 

"And it would make you feel better if I dated? How?"

"I dunno...that you would have someone. It doesn't matter who. I don't even know if you have any friends." 

"Where is this all coming from?" Essek asked as he blinked at his younger brother. 

"Essek...you literally haven't talked to me in months. The last time was Harvest Close. Your call gave me a fucking heart attack."

"Well good, it appears my scheme to kill you and assert my dominance as the better child is all going according to plan." 

"You see, the thing about you is I don't know if you are being serious or not so let me just say, if you did kill me, don’t think I wouldn’t haunt you for the rest of your life. And that would be worse because you hate having people around. So really? Just shooting yourself in the foot." 

“Verin, eat your damn plum and then go trance.”

“Whatever,” Verin scoffed, but seemed content to do just that as he settled on the couch and lay down. He tossed the decorative blanket Essek had placed just so over his legs with little care, and shut his eyes. Essek massaged his aching temples, before walking over to the light switch and dimming it all the way. He looked out the window, just once more. The cold light of Rosohna continued to shine, regardless of how Essek felt about it.

* * *

Essek called the bakery the next day. 

This was normally how things went. He had to call places and walk the ever treacherous line of being polite but also demanding. After all, no one could turn down Leylas Kryn, but it also had to be kept a serious affair no matter what. The last thing that anyone wanted was for the paparazzi to catch wind of what they were doing and cause a whole ruckus. On the other hand it was also important to note that any business that had Leylas Kryn’s attention would suddenly be in the national spotlight. Spa treatments she did became sensations, unknown fashion designers became national icons, while workouts she commited to became trends. And in this case? Maybe a bakery would be bigger than just a bakery. 

He stared at the muffin on his desk. Beauregard had pressed it into his hands that morning with his daily order, rolling her eyes as she said it was on the house. It tempted him, standing as a monument to his weakness. Some secret part of him didn’t want to call...didn’t want to change the thing that had slowly but surely integrated itself into his routine. But he pressed the number into his phone and dialed regardless. 

Farewell to his tiny hiding hole, Essek thought as the phone rang. Really it was what they deserved, the least he could do for what a lovely group they were...the least he could do for Caleb. Perhaps it didn’t mean anything for him, Essek was just another face in the crowd...he wasn’t anyone special to him. But Essek could still almost taste sunlight on the tip of his tongue... 

The line clicked and connected on the other end. 

“Xhorhaus Bakery, this is Veth speaking, how can I help you?” Veth’s shrill voice came over the line. 

“Hello, this is Essek Theylss calling from the Xhorhassian Cultural Institute, how are you doing today?” Essek asked with his patent work voice. He heard a pregnant pause on the other side of the line, and a short intake of breath. 

“Hello…?” Veth said, sounding very suspicious. “Good? Are we in trouble?” 

Essek blinked. Oh. He had never given them his last name, he had only told Jester. Essek wasn’t a super common name, but also wasn’t uncommon either. It was name lifted from the pages of a famous collection of folktales that was housed in the national museum (though he was pretty sure his mother had just opened up a book of names and picked the first one her finger landed on). Essek remembered looking it up as a child; it was derived from either the Undercommon word “eszaph” or “eszak”which meant ”alike” or “worry”. Essek had always thought that “eszak” suited him more. Regardless, there would always be at least one or two other Esseks in a school...though their names were usually spelled “Essik” or “Essic” to mark them as unique and special, and he couldn’t imagine a worse fate. Thankfully his mother had always been a traditionalist in that regard, though it made it hard to stomach her for other reasons. 

“No, of course not,” Essek said with his friendly-laugh, the one that set people at ease. “I’m calling on behalf of Leylas Kryn and her partner Quana Kryn who are interested in utilizing your services to cater a cake for their Vow Renewal.”

“What? Really-sh!” Essek could hear Veth talk off to the side. “Jester get Caleb-!”

“Is now not a good time?” Essek asked, heart pounding in his ears, hoping to get the conversation back on track (trying desperately not to think about Caleb’s voice in his ear because he didn’t want that, he couldn’t handle that). 

“No! Now’s a perfect time, uh, what were you thinking? Of a time?” 

“It will have to be after your usual closing hours, for the utmost privacy of the Kryns. And we will have to send over papers that ask for a nondisclosure until it is determined whether the service will be utilized, is that agreeable?”

“Yes! Yes of course, sh! Fjord--shutthefuckup--!”

“Very well then, the Kryns have availability tonight or the 13th of this month between the times of seven to eight. Do either of those times work for you?” 

“Tonight! Of course we’ll be happy with the appointment tonight.” 

“Wonderful,” Essek said, voice trained into a smile. “Would you prefer fax, paper, or magical means of receiving the forms?” 

Essek worked out the details and received the signed nondisclosure forms from the fax machine, officially booking in the appointment to Leylas’ schedule. By the time he got off the phone with Veth he felt like he had run a whole marathon. But he looked at the forms that had been signed...and the elegant script caught his attention. Caleb Widogast. He ran his fingers over the copy, taking a moment to trace the loops and lines. It felt oddly intimate in the strangest way...but Essek shook his head resolutely to scatter those thoughts. It wasn’t intimate, he was just being desperate and needy over a kind stranger.

Essek finally picked up the muffin and took a bite, his first taste of food all day. Essek knew the enchantment on the muffins were supposed to keep them from going stale, the perfect spell for early morning rushes and office meetings. And yet he still couldn’t get over it. Buttery and moist, crumbling and melting into his mouth...bursting with bright cranberries in every bright and sweet-zesty oranges in the muffin itself and in the drizzle that lingered on the tongue...and the echo of lemon that strengthened. Of course lemon, Essek thought, annoyed at himself. Always lemon. He wouldn’t be able to even look at a lemon the same way again without thinking of _him_. But even that errant thought and desire couldn’t sour the cripplingly good flavor in his mouth, made stronger with the coffee it was paired with. 

Essek called Leylas’ event planner and confirmed that everything was fine to go for tonight, and then scooped up the papers and his tome-pad and walked over to Kryn's office. Her secretary motioned for him to knock, and so he did so carefully. 

“Come in,” came Leylas’ voice, and Essek walked into her spacious office. The whole office was styled similarly to the rest of the building, modern and minimalist and with a muted color palette. Leylas looked up, swiveling her chair in order to see Essek better from where she was sitting. “Did you make an appointment to this bakery then?”

“Yes, you should see it on your schedule for tonight considering you had a gap in your calendar and you were hoping to do this sooner rather than later,” Essek said, pulling up the details on his tome-pad and giving Leylas the papers to look at. She skimmed them, seemed content, and then put them in the box that would go to legal. “You will both arrive at seven, be given time to design your wedding cake. This was explained to be that you should come up with ideas about the shape of the cake, colors, flowers you may want-”

“Flowers on a cake?”

“I was told that they craft them out of sugar.” 

“How interesting,” Leylas said as she tapped her nail against her arm. 

“Also, any specific enchantments you may want on the cake itself. They will explain the options there, but as someone who has sampled the enchantments, no matter what you pick you will not be disappointed. After that you will have time to taste the different standard flavors they offer, or conferences to come up with your own.” 

“I see, Quana and I shall talk about it,” Leylas said as she gazed back at her computer. “And you will be coming as well, won’t you?” 

“I...what?” Essek asked, surprised. “Your Vow Renewal Planner is going.” 

“Of course she is, but, I also trust your opinion as well,” Leylas said as she leaned back in her chair. “I also suppose we are going to be taste testing a bunch of flavors aren’t we? I know how much you enjoy sweets.”

“I don’t enjoy sweets,” Essek said with a frown. 

“Right,” she said with a knowing look that almost made Essek bristle but it didn’t...only because he was so well trained to bottle every emotion he had ever felt in his own life and carefully package them away into a neat box which then went into the pit where his soul probably was supposed to be. 

“I enjoy the coffee there,” Essek said simply as he closed his tome-pad. “As do you and Mrs. Kryn. But if you would like me to accompany you, I will do so of course.” 

“Then be ready to go at 6:30 then,” Leylas said, dismissing him with a wave. Essek stepped out of the room and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a breath, before walking down with the second copies of the legal forms that he would file in the Kryns’ personal collection. 

He didn’t like mixing business with pleasure at the best of times, he liked his days separated cleanly into professional-time and Essek time. Any moment it was blurred was honestly stressful in a very vague and strange way, because Essek wasn’t sure who he was meant to be. Though that sounded philosophical, he meant that in quite a literal sense. On a day to day basis Essek had no sense of cognitive dissonance with who Essek-at-work was and who Essek-not-at-work, but when they were in close quarters it made things strange and made social interactions bizarre. People didn’t tend to enjoy the company of Essek-not-at-work, and certainly that was not who Leylas and Quana expected, so Essek-at-work was who would be going with them to the bakery. 

At the appointed time, Essek followed Quana and Leylas in his own car. The planner, a young drow woman named Nedna had accompanied the Kryns and appeared with them in the back of their car as the driver opened the door for them. As their bodyguard, a huge minotaur named Sunbreaker Ulomon (yes, Ulomon was his name. No, he wasn’t sure if he had been given the name Sunbreaker or had just given it to himself like a pit-fighter) waited outside the door. Just before any of them could move, there was movement and the sound of running. 

“Welcome to Xhorhaus Bakery!” Jester greeted nearly bursting out of the back door in her enthusiasm. “We are so happy to have you! My name’s Jester and-”

She stopped, staring at Essek for a moment, before picking up again as if she had never missed a beat. 

“-and Caleb and Veth are in the office. I’ll be bringing you back there!” Jester said. 

“Of course,” Leylas said, and hooked her arm with Quana’s as they walked forward. Nedna was casting an extremely judgemental look towards everything as they walked through the front door. Essek pretended that his tome-pad was very interesting as they entered the office where Veth was settling down some books and Caleb was reading over something. He looked up, smiled at Leylas and Quana before blinking rapidly at the sight of him, raking over his face in a way that made Essek tense up. He didn’t have anything on his face, because he always looked in his mirror before he got out of his car. He was dressed in a suit and jacket, just as he usually was. 

He wasn’t expecting you here, Essek reminded him. Don’t think anything of it. 

“Hello, Mr. Widogast,” Leylas said moving through the space easily and taking his hand, “I am Leylas Kryn, this is my wife Quana, event planner Nedna Mirimm, and my assistant Essek Theylss.” 

“It is an honor to meet you,” Caleb said sincerely, taking all of their hands in a handshake. He faltered at the sight of Essek before offering out his hand. 

“It is nice to see you again, Mr. Widogast,” Essek said with a soft hopefully-comforting smile, taking Caleb’s hand and giving it a quick shake before releasing it. He definitely was not thinking about how Caleb’s hand felt so warm, and it was large and calloused and strong from spell working and bread-kneading. Those thoughts, of course, didn’t bubble up in his head like breath escaping the lungs. “Though this time in my more professional capacity as opposed to a regular frequenter.” 

“It’s nice to see you too,” Caleb agreed, though he looked strangely flustered. For a second he held his own hand, before he turned back to the others. “So you are here about a cake, ja? Take a seat and let's get started. I am assuming you have come here with specifics about the occasion.”

“The Vow Renewal itself will be a rather private affair,” Leylas explained, and Essek resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He supposed 200 guests out of all the important people in the world was “private” but still, it was rather misleading when you put it like that. He typed out a note to make sure that Caleb and those who would be focusing on the cake were made aware. “Though of course it is our day, it is also important for the country as a whole as you can imagine.” 

“Of course,” Veth said. “Very important. Extremely important.” 

“What is your theme?” Caleb asked curiously. 

“I believe the word we were using was celestial, correct Quana?” Leylas asked Quana. 

“Yes, considering how much our faith means to us,” Quana said, giving Leylas’ hand a fond squeeze. Their affection was something so easily given, Essek couldn’t help but prickle with some emotion he couldn’t quite name. He wasn’t sure he had ever felt it before...though his own emotions tended to be distant relatives rather than constant companions. All of this _feeling_ he had been doing lately was the exception, not the rule. 

“I have reference pictures here of decorations and also of the Kryn’s ceremonial and reception attire,” Nedna said, sliding the folder over for Caleb and Veth to see. “Those are for your reference.” 

“How wonderful,” Caleb said with an earnest look at all the materials in the folder. “For your cake, what exactly were you thinking of in terms of how many tiers?” 

“As this is a new tradition we were hoping for your expert opinion on the topic,” Leylas said. 

“Well, traditionally you would want one tier per forty guests. So if your ceremony will have, let’s say, 100 guests in attendance you would have three tiers. You add another tier for each forty guests. Or, of course, we can always do a smaller cake and cater additional cupcakes or a dessert bar,” Caleb explained, drawing it out on the sketch paper to demonstrate what he meant. 

“For all the guests, a six tiered cake then,” Nedna said before sniffing. “How do you get a cake so big to stand?” 

“We have different methods of construction as well as a system of dowels we place to add support. Now in terms of design…”

They spoke through the design of the cake, with Essek jotting down the most pressing notes. Geometric designs, silver and metallic accents, the flowers to match the ones chosen for the ceremony. Nedna was actually in charge of this, but still, it never hurt to be thorough. Of course there was no real budget, after all, whatever the Kryns wanted they got. But Essek did keep a close eye on the notes about the cost as laid out on the sheet to tally up a price. They were a small business, it was imperative that they were paid appropriately for their services. 

“Essek! Pssst!” 

Essek looked up from his notes to see Jester’s hand gesticulating wildly at him. Essek sighed.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Essek said, and Leylas nodded to give him permission to go. Essek turned the corner and immediately saw all of them around it squatting like they had been listening in to the conversation...and he didn’t doubt they had. He planted his hands on his hips, in a strange reenactment of an old nanny of his. "What?" 

"We should be asking the questions!" Beau hissed at him. "What the fuck are you doing here with the Bright Queen?" 

"I'm an assistant," Essek said. 

"So she's the super secret awesome person you work for?" Jester asked, sounding delighted. 

"She would be," Essek admitted. 

"That's so cool," Jester said with a dreamy sigh. 

"Who is she, again?" Caduceus asked curiously. Essek blinked in surprise, but Caduceus continued to look at Essek with an open honest expression. “I’m sorry, was that a weird question?” 

“Of course not. Leylas Kryn is the Bright Queen...she is the Queen of this country, though she no longer has any powers...she gave that up when Xhorhas became a parliamentary government,” Essek explained, giving his best intern’s-first-day spiel to them. “Her partner Quana Kryn is the Dusk Captain, the ceremonial head of military. Right now they are the heads of the Xhorhassian Cultural Institute, which is a government organization whose mission is to preserve and promote our culture. It manages approximately 1,000 organizations such as museums, manors, and other cultural and historical landmarks.” 

“That’s wonderful,” Caduceus said. “It is truly an honor to be preserving one’s way of life, and to respect the history behind it.” 

History is written by the winners and rewritten to serve one’s needs, Essek thought dismissively. It is an exercise in semantics where we attempt to construct morals and understandings through our thin veils of experience, in a world that is rarely concerned with such things. The subject on the whole is just a breeding ground for those with personal deficits...almost as bad as those who involved themselves willingly with business and economics. 

“It is an honor to be working with them,” is what Essek said with an eternally soft smile. For a moment Caduceus’ expression furrowed like he was deep in thought, before it passed. 

“So your last name is Theylss? Isn’t that one of the important families in this city?” Fjord asked curiously. 

“Ah, yes, it would be,” Essek said. “My family occupies a certain station in this city.”

“So you are like a super duper important person?” Jester asked. “Like nobility or something?” 

“Not since the formal den system was eradicated, no. That was a bit before I was born,” Essek said with a dismissive wave. 

“When were you born...by the way?” Beau asked suspiciously. 

“I am one hundred and twenty years old,” Essek said, “for your kind I would be classified as a young adult.” 

“Not too old then,” Jester said with a giggle, to which Yasha gave her a little poke in the side. 

“Too old for what?” Essek asked, confused. 

“Oh nothing! Nothing!” Jester said, fluttering her eyelashes coquettishly. 

“Was there anything else you needed me for?” Essek asked. 

“Nothing, nothing, wouldn’t want to keep you too long, just wanted to say hello,” Fjord said, giving them all a look. Beau looked a bit put-out, Caduceus was still looking at him strangely, while Jester seemed to be enjoying her own private joke. Yasha gave him a shrug, and Essek took that as his dismissal. 

Essek returned into the room, just as Veth brought out a tray of samples. Each slice resembled little finger sandwiches. There were two sets of ten laid out before them on the small mismatched dishes and plates Essek had come to associate with the bakery, each of varying colors and varieties. 

“These are our wedding cake flavors. You can of course feel free to request different combinations without cost, but specialty flavors and special requests will cost more based on the ingredients needed to be purchased and the rarity of those ingredients. I’ve also separated them into categories. Over here we have our most popular flavors,” Caleb pointed to a set of three, “next to that are four of our spring wedding suggestions, and then we have others what we call wild card flavors.”

“I pick those ones!” Veth said, sounding very proud of herself. “The cups are of different types of frostings and fillings that you can have. Is there anything you would like to start with?” 

“Let’s start with the wild card,” Quana said and with a nod from Leylas, Veth placed the three tiny cakes in front of both Leylas and Quana, as well as in front of him and Nedna. 

“Our first offerings are a honey-lavender cake, orange-lemon cake, and our matcha cake…”

* * *

“Essek,” Leylas said as she fixed the collar of her jacket. “It was a very good suggestion. I look forward to what they do with it. Very well done, as usual.” 

“Thank you,” Essek said, as he opened the door to their car for them, she slid in next to her wife, who was lounging back and settled an arm around her. Leylas cuddled into her, almost imperceptibly. “Have a good night.”

The car drove off the curb, and Essek heard the tapping of Nedna’s nails against the screen of her own phone. 

“That was all very sweet,” Nedna commented idly, eyes violet against the streetlights and the slick asphalt. “And well played, Essek.” 

“I haven’t the slightest idea as to what you are referring to,” Essek said, giving her a sidelong look. “If you felt that I was stepping on your toes, that was not my intention. I was merely hoping to offer a suggestion to my employer.” 

Silence hung in the air, strangely thick against Essek’s skin. Nedna wasn't responding and Essek did his best not to look at her. Perhaps if he didn't look she wouldn't continue the conversation-

“That’s my driver,” Nedna said, motioning to the black car rolling down the street, dashing any hope he had to escape this conversation in some way unscathed. “But I can always cancel him, send him to pick up my sister. We could have dinner, perhaps? Or something to drink? Nothing so sweet though. I think we’ve both had enough _sweets_ for one day, haven’t we?” 

Essek couldn't help but look at her now. She was gazing at him intently, expression hungry and gaze hot against Essek's skin. Ah. This again. Essek hated that, when people stared at him like they could peel back his skin and find what they desired under the surface. They just didn't understand that Essek didn't have anything they wanted in the cage of his body, that whatever they saw in him was just a figment of their own imaginations. 

“I’m not hungry,” Essek said flatly. 

“You don’t need to be to take me out to dinner,” Nedna said, reaching out to touch his arm. Essek resisted the urge to jerk away from her. He hated things like this. You always had to walk the delicate line, be kind enough to avoid insult, but stern enough to avoid a repeat performance. Everything is politics, his mother’s voice reminded him. Grin and bear it, no Essek, smile in a way that doesn’t make you look like you smelled something awful-

“As much as I appreciate the offer,” Essek said, plucking her hand from his arm. He gave it a soft pat, before releasing her. “I will have to refuse, I am unfortunately far too busy.”

“I see,” Nedna said as the car rolled up. Her expression was something pinched and sour. “A pity.” 

On that note, she entered the car which pulled out with a puff of white smoke. Essek sighed, unable to contain his shiver as he rubbed his gloved hands together for warmth. Finally, his day was over. He could go home and relax. The idea was so intoxicating to him that he didn’t even realize that someone was bounding up to him until Jester was almost on top of him. 

“Oh my goodness! Essek!” Jester gasped, nearly wiggling with excitement, she threw her arms around him in a hug. Essek felt his breath choke in his lungs because she was soft and warm against him. “Thank you so much! This is going to be so great for the bakery!” 

“I don’t know what you are thanking me for, but you are welcome,” Essek said, extricating himself from her embrace as quickly as possible. His skin felt like it was on fire, even though she hadn’t even touched any, and for some reason he wanted her to do it again. It was so bewildering a sensation that he almost missed the next words stated to him. 

“You were the one who brought them here, correct?” Caduceus asked, wrapping a fuzzy pink scarf around his own neck. “That was very thoughtful of you.” 

“Oh, no, I-” 

“You shouldn’t bother lying to Caduceus,” Yasha said, the giant woman quietly approaching. “He can always tell.” 

“It is true,” Jester said very seriously before her giant grin broke through like the sun. “Essek. I just had the most amazing idea!” 

“What?” Essek said, trying to keep up with her boundless enthusiasm but feeling like he was lagging at least three miles behind. 

“The rest of them took Fjord’s car, but this is your car right?”

“Right?” 

“The God Squad,” Jester said, forming her hands into a “g” and then a “s”, “was just going to take a taxi to the place, but you should totally join us!” 

“Where?” Essek said, feeling dizzy from trying to follow her train of thought. 

“Karaoke!” Jester chirped.

“...karaoke?” Essek repeated numbly. 

“Does he know what karaoke is?” Yasha asked Caduceus quietly, who just shrugged. 

“I know what it is,” Essek said, too befuddled to hide his snippiness. “You want me...to bring you to a karaoke bar.” 

“No, join us,” Jester said, motioning to them in a wild manner, much like a mother attempting to goad her child back into her arms after swimming too far off shore. “It’ll be so much fun, Essek! Come on, please? Everyone will love having you there!” 

A part of Essek, the rational part, wanted him to say no. After all, none of this was appropriate. They didn’t even know him...he didn’t understand why they would even think to include him in this. But the other part of Essek...the part that was strangely starved thought...it couldn’t possibly be that bad of an idea? After all, what could go wrong? 

“The one on second or the one of Ridgecrest Avenue?” Essek asked.

* * *

“H̶̱͈̱̘̋ä̷̟̖́̓̒͜ǹ̴̮̰͕̱d̸̖̯͇͊̏̐s̷͙̜̚,̴̩̲̆͒ ̶̹͓́͜͜t̷͇̜̤̱̋̔̈́ơ̷̰ȕ̵͍͖͊c̴̡͔̜̓̈́ḧ̶̩̑i̶̦̥̭̖͝n̷̪̾g̵͓͙̓̒ ̶͖̗̫̈́̓ḫ̸͐̾a̵̝̘̥͒̐n̸̼̥͆d̶͈̓s̵͉̄͠, ̸/R̷̞̍̄͐e̸̯͛̓͛a̷̩͗̇̉̄ͅc̷̰̀̽̒̆h̵̼̜̼͆͌̆͝i̶̛͕̙͔̦̿̎̇ņ̷̦̆̄͝g̵͉̼̻̈́͜ ̶̳̱̹͝o̸͓͂̏̑u̶͔͛͝t̴̰̭̺͈̀͋,̶̳̪͓̋ ̴̳̝̄t̴̪̬͙̆ȍ̴̡͖̾̐u̴̟̯̕͜ć̷̺͗͠h̸̜͙͐͒̉ǐ̸̩̙̝n̵̡͓̺̩̈́͒͘g̸̢̤̜̻͌͑̎ ̸̭̹̼̹̿́̐͌m̴̱̑̋e̴̟̘̓,̶̺͓͌ ̸̖̩̝̆t̶̛̬̦̙̃̒̉ô̵̧̬͇͖̽̈́̕u̶̗͙̹͋̏̕͜͠c̷̤̗̾͋̕͜͠ḧ̷̢̛̤́ͅi̸̡͖̠̾̋͑n̷̜̠͓̖̓g̷͙̔̊̾ ̶͙̜̞̹̾͋͊y̷̛̩͂̈͜o̵̧̬̼̎͐͝ú̵͈̥̤…!” Everyone at the karaoke place sang loudly, miming reaching out and grasping onto each other dramatically. Essek had been told by Veth and Beauregard that this was apparently an Empire classic, by some tiefling bard named Ni’al Deamound. Apparently everyone else knew it too, as this was a bar filled with immigrants from the Empire, which was strange since it was in the original abyssal. 

“S̸̞̟̍w̷̰̫͛̀̈͜e̴̞̬͖͊̔͜ẽ̵͙͖͔̖̌t̵̳̒̄̍̕ ̴̭̳̳̪̐̒C̶̮̻̊̀͝ȁ̷̤̐͐̏r̶̭̤̤̫͛̉͂o̴̖̲̖͚̔l̵̟̙͗͘͝͝i̸͍̫̚ͅn̶̙̭̑͋ë̸̦̞́͐̈́͝!” Veth nearly screeched into the microphone, as the crowd at the karaoke placed cheered. 

“̶̨̦̔̆͜ͅB̵͙͇̈́͑͜A̷̯̦̖̼͋ ̴̧̟̦̜͛͛̑̇B̵̖̬͓͙̊̉̕A̸̮͖͆ ̵̦͒B̶̡̺̆̔A̵͚̹͐̕!̷̱̩̆͗̑!̷̎͑͐̄ͅ!̵̮͛̇” The rest of the Mighty Nein shouted back. 

“̷̦̊G̵̠͎̳͔̑o̴̞̩̎̾͛ơ̷͙͉̯͓̆͋d̵̲̥̫̘̍͐̈́ ̸̩͌̑̈́̿t̷̜̠͉͔͑͆į̷̝͠m̵̥̩̦̤̽̍̑e̶͚͇̒ş̷̓̉͌̾ ̷̢̜̈́͂̈́͒n̶͔͒͆̿͝e̸̛̖̼͋̓̈v̷̮͓̍͊͝ḙ̸̛͓̹̥͑̋r̵̹̪̎ ̶̟́͠ͅͅs̵̺̭͗́ͅȇ̵̙̒̾̈́e̵̱̞̙̥̓͑͝m̷̛̬͝e̵͚̫̿ḋ̶̜̮͒̃ͅ ̸̭̹͙͒͐̽ş̸̯̉͌͑̀o̴̒͛̆̾͜ ̵̻͓̦̓g̸̱̏o̴̡̓̇o̷̮̟̣̅͒d̷̢̳̬̓̅!” 

“̷̭̆S̷̪̼͋͊͒̓Ȍ̴̢̬̈́͂ ̷̙͉̪̈́G̴̞̪͛͊O̵̻͈̝͎͐O̴̹̩͕̤͛̆̊D̷̦̆̈͒!̶̨͚̱̘͛̅̑̈́ ̵͖̪̲̈͂̎͑Ș̸̲̈́O̵̘̙̠͙̾ ̸͉͙̱̫͘Ġ̸͈̠̍͒Ơ̸͉͓͖̏̈́ͅO̵̧͖̞̓̕D̷̨͒̐!̵͙̄̔͘ ̸̤̼̥̃̔S̵͙̘̄̾͜Ǫ̴̖̟̩̀ ̶̥͖̦̥͗̐̔̌G̸͉͚̦̽̆̋Ò̷̳͍̭̜Ǫ̸̹͙̭́̓D̷̨̜̩͍͆̂!̵̱̹̩̎͌́͝” The Mighty Nein chanted, which would have been concerning...depending on the situation. The song ended with a raucous applause as someone else took the strage, yodeling through a Scanlan Shorthalt classic, “Eye of the Goliath”. Essek was mostly zoned out, and was startled as Caleb sat down next to him with a drink in his hands. He had spent most of his time there just absorbing the company and the conversation, contributing only when asked a direct question. Essek hadn’t ever been the most sociable person, and he found himself suddenly anchored by Caleb’s company. 

“Care for another drink?” Caleb asked, settling it down in front of himself, it was a glass of beer, a stout perhaps? Essek wasn’t too versed in drinks unless they were light and fruity cocktails. “I don’t mind running back to the bar for another one.”

“No, no, I have to drive,” Essek said, cradling the same cocktail he had been drinking the whole time he had been there. “Though, I’ll probably need to grab something to eat on my way home...I don’t have anything in my fridge.” 

“You ought to come with us back to our place,” Beauregard said, plopping down on the other side of the booth and taking a long sip from her glass. A look passed between her and Caleb that Essek didn’t understand. “After we go to karaoke we normally have a snack party.” 

“Beau, smile more invitingly,” Fjord coached, and Beauregard’s expression tightened into an unnatural smile. 

“I couldn’t impose, just this has been very kind,” Essek said, waving them off. 

“It’s the least we can do,” Fjord argued. “This is going to be huge for us.” 

“We would love to have you,” Caleb promised, with a smile that spread so handsomely across his face. “We were going to get going anyways relatively soon. I think Jester wanted to sing one more song-”

“Essek you should totally sing with me!” Jester called from the front of the line. “We can do a duet!” 

“Ah, no, I don’t sing!” Essek called back. 

“Beau? Yasha?” Jester called back and both ladies looked at each other before shrugging and going up to join Jester for a rousing rendition of Marion Lavorre’s single “Ladies’ Night”, with shockingly accurate choreography to the music video if Essek recalled correctly. 

“Will you come?” Caleb asked, sounding hopeful. 

“I...if you don’t mind,” Essek said, downing the rest of his cocktail in hopes that it would soothe his suddenly dry throat. 

Essek managed to drive the so-called God Squad to the house the Mighty Nein owned without getting into a car accident despite Jester’s constant narration (with the exception of Veth, who apparently lived in a smaller house down the street with her husband and son). It was decently sized in a relatively nice part of the city that was lined with vermaloc trees and brownstones, indigenous and hearty enough to survive the eternal night of the city. Essek was surprised, though he wasn’t sure what he had expected it wasn’t this. 

“Everyone grab what they’ve been working on, it’s munchies party time!” Jester shouted out Essek’s window, nearly jumping out of it as it was still moving. Essek parked behind Fjord’s car in the driveway and admired the home. It was painted a lovely maroon and settled on a light stone foundation, a traditional style to this area and yet it seemed warm and inviting. 

“You have a lovely place,” Essek commented as the half-orc locked his car. He looked up at the house proudly, following Essek’s own gaze. 

“We were pretty lucky to get it,” Fjord hummed. “It was a bit of a fixer-upper, but we’ve put a lot of work into it and it’s paid off.” 

“It was the pit money,” Yasha added softly. 

“Pit money?” Essek repeated incredulously. “You were pit fighters?” 

“That’s actually how we met,” Caleb said as he idled up besides them as Beau opened the door. “We were all earning a bit of extra money in the pits at Alfied, and then we realized we could be much more successful as a group. That’s how we got the name, the Mighty Nein.” 

“Group pit fighting is much more dangerous,” Essek observed. Pit fighting was a nationally recognized sport, derived from the business of the old adventuring parties of old. Groups of fighters or individuals would fight each other or magical beasts in tournaments, and betting on such events was a whole industry in it of itself. 

“But, extremely lucrative,” Caleb said. “We had a decent winning streak going, built up enough funds to put the down payment on the bakery as well as this place when we finally made it over the border.” 

“You are all an interesting group of individuals,” Essek noted. 

“Unfortunately that’s not even the half of it,” Caleb chuckled, the sound warmed Essek all the way through as they walked up the steps and entered the house. 

The house itself was a study in the concept of lived-in, in a way that magazines glossed over or attempted to replicate with certain air that was not present. Every nook and cranny was full of things, collectable porcelain cats or tea cups, mismatched loveseats and a couch layered with handmade quilts and decorative pillows of different shades, shininess, and fur. Paintings (done in Jester’s characteristic style and raunchiness, seashells and plants decorated the walls. The kitchen itself was spacious and with a generous island with a slab of what looked like marble along the side. Dried herbs were hung by the window with racks of pots and pans and other utensils. 

“I’m gonna grab the pickles from downstairs,” Caduceus was calling from the top basement step. “What’s the plan? Does anyone want my kimchi?” 

“I’ll help Cad,” Fjord offered as he plodded over to the basement door. “I think I’m gonna grab the kombucha we made too.”

“Oh! I do! Also, Caleb, do you still have some of the bread you made this morning? Let’s have a grilled cheese party!” Veth offered as she opened the fridge and began pulling out a large assortment of ingredients. “Whose making sides?” 

“We got you,” Beau said before Jester joined her and they fist bumped. Immediately they pulled out something from underneath the island and unfolded a seperate table. 

“Are you comfortable in the kitchen?” Caleb asked, and Essek realized that he was talking to him. He had just been standing there by the coat rack, taking everything in. 

“Uh...enough to survive,” Essek said, though, even that was doubtful. 

“Why don’t you join Yasha, she’s very good at prepping ingredients,” Caleb said as he tied an apron around his waist, and Essek looked towards the larger woman who nodded at him. 

“Of course,” Essek said, hoping to find some sense of himself with a smaller task. 

And so Essek was set to work, chopping vegetables and also various meats. Yasha stopped him a few times to correct the way he was slicing a vegetable, and Essek committed to watching her in an attempt to learn something. She handled a knife with a sense of ease and finesse that Essek hadn’t expected but was determined to copy. It also provided a good distraction from Essek staring at Caleb...though he often found his eyes drawn to Caleb regardless. He moved effortless through the kitchen, slicing homemade loaves of bread, frying, popping trays in the oven, tasting when someone put a spoon to his mouth and dispensing advice. He and Veth worked like a well oiled machine, in fact, all the Mighty Nein did, moving with a kind of partnership that seemed to Essek to be as organic as moving limbs. But more than that, his shoulders and arms made a pretty picture…

“Alright! Grilled cheese party is complete! Let’s eat!” Fjord said, grasping the platter filled with the sandwiches as Beau and Jester finished placing down the sides in the living room. Caleb patted to the cushion next to him on the couch, and Essek sat down in it woodenly. He could have never done something like this at home as a child, Essek thought. Eating dinner in the living room? What if something spilled on the rug or ruined the chairs or the couch? And yet, none of them seemed concerned in the least.

“Essek’s our guest, he gets to pick the sandwich he wants,” Caduceus seemed to remind the group as Veth swatted at Fjord’s hand who stuck his tongue out at her. 

“No, don’t worry. You all pick what you like, I’ll just take whatever is left,” Essek said, staring at the mountain of foods in front of him with hesitance. Caduceus poured the drink into his glass, and smiled at Essek. 

“Would you like a suggestion, perhaps?” Caleb asked with a soft look that soothed his soul. Caleb reached over to scoop one of the sandwiches off the tray and placed it gently there, he also carefully placed the salad that Beauregard and Jester had made. “This is perhaps my favorite post-drinking food. It’s called a Croque-Madame. I made the bread myself, so I hope you enjoy it.” 

Essek, a bit daunted by the giant sandwich on his plate, stared at it in awe. It really was a thing of beauty, toasted bread oozing with cheese, covered with a browned bechamel sauce, and topped with a perfectly fried egg that popped with the lightest touch as Essek cut into the sandwich with his knife. Essek carved out a bite, and brought it to his mouth and nearly melted right there. The bread itself was a revelation, flavorful (in the tangy way that only good bread was) and light with a certain open texture you just couldn’t get in the supermarket. The cheese was earthy and nutty and melty while contrasted with the smoky-sweet-salty of the ham, and the unexpected warm spice and perfect dash of mustard...completely rounded out with oozing golden yolk and the sprinkling of herbes de provence. Essek took his next bites alternating the vingerary-acidic charred cabbage-and-scallion slaw that Jester and Beau had made, as well as the broccoli-parmesan-anchovy bake that Fjord and Veth were nearly fighting over. 

“I don’t know how you manage it...to make everything taste so good,” Essek said, taking a long sip of kombucha. He yawned, feeling so full he couldn’t take another bite. Essek looked up to see Caleb looking at him, with an intense expression that had Essek nearly blushing. Ah, it was rude to yawn at the table. 

“Food always tastes better when we are eating together,” Caleb noted, looking at the lively table they were surrounded by. The grilled cheese on Caleb’s plate was half eaten, and Essek looked at his own in realization. 

“I took your sandwich, didn’t I?” Essek said. “I’m sorry, I-”

“No, watching you enjoy it was enough for me,” Caleb promised. 

“Here-” Essek said, spearing a forkful and lifting it before he realized what he was doing. Essek cringed, opened his mouth to apologize. But instead of refusing and turning away, Caleb leaned down and took the bite. Eyes fluttering for a moment, cheeks warmed through as he seemed to consider the flavor deeply. Essek was watching his mouth, he really couldn’t look away as Caleb’s tongue sweeped out for a moment and he caught a drop of the sauce on his thumb. Oh Gods, Essek thought desperately, looking away quickly, as if just looking at Caleb could burn. How did this man even turn chewing into the sexiest thing that Essek had ever seen? It should be a crime. 

“Perhaps my best yet,” Caleb said with a tender look, blue eyes darkened. 

“That I don’t doubt,” Essek murmured, taking another lazy sip. Really, the conversation was lively but soft. This whole house was filled with something soothing...the imperceptible thing that made the bakery feel so alive and comforting...settling in his belly like the food that nourished him. Essek wondered what it was as he let his heavy eyelids sink with his train of thought. If Caleb could find a way to bottle it up...Essek was sure it would sell for a fortune. He would find a way...just as everything he touched became magic... 

Leaned against something warm, and feeling just the gentlest touch brush his forehead, Essek’s thoughts drifted off into the gentle darkness.


	4. So Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He still looked devastatingly attractive in every possible way and it wasn’t fair because he looked like he had just rolled out of the bed. Essek needed at least an hour in the morning to talk himself into being even vaguely pleasant.
> 
> “Oh! Guten Morgen, and welcome back to the Xhorhaus Bakery,” Caleb said, a certain pleasant crinkle to his expression. He was smiling a soft, gentle smile that caught Essek off guard. “What can I get you this morning?”
> 
> At Xhorhaus Bakery, where the Mighty Nein bake up Rosohna's most delectable treats, magic is something that is in the air. For Essek Theylss, there might just be love there too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just say this, this pandemic has really been messing with my productivity. But in weird ways, like, some days I got through 1000 words, the next day I would barely write three sentences. Crazy times. This chapter...we got romantic progression. Which is exciting because that means next chapter will be dedicated to panicking. I love panicking. 
> 
> As always, thank you everyone for the mountain of support I have received on this fic. Really, reading the comments and the reblog tags and everything is what kept me going, I went back multiple times and you guys never failed to inspire me. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Recommended listening: So Good by Red Velvet  
>  _My shaky head is filled with you  
>  It’s hectic  
> I can’t hide it, I want you  
> It spreads, I can’t escape this feeling_
> 
> _I give myself up to my heart that’s already fallen deeply  
>  You’ve been spread towards me  
> I jump in, my heart’s overflowed_
> 
> _Your subtle breaths  
>  Tickle my ears again  
> You fill me up (my heart’s overflowed)  
> Just like this So good so good to me_

Elves didn’t need to sleep as other species did, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t. Essek actively avoided sleep, mostly because he didn’t enjoy dreaming. He didn’t know how people did it every night, go under and then have your brain spew out images and sequences that didn’t make any rational sense. Essek liked everything organized, separated out, and delineated neatly with understandable criteria. Having a strange dream where he was being crushed under some warm weight definitely was not any of those things, and Essek didn’t appreciate it one bit... 

...and then Essek tried to take a breath and he realized he wasn’t dreaming rather immediately. He woke up with a panicked start. Frumpkin, Caleb’s cat who took up residence in the bakery, was laying on his chest and had a paw on Essek’s mouth. He was batting at him like he had expected Essek to be dead, and when Essek awoke the cat blinked at him with wide luminous yellow eyes. He was an adorable mongrel, fluffy and orange...and large. He was at least ten pounds if not heavier and had taken residence on his body like he was the couch Essek was laying on. 

“As cute as you are...I cannot allow you to kill me,” Essek informed the cat. “I’m sorry if I took your spot though.”

“Mrrp?” Frumpkin asked cutely, tufted ears flicking to the front. 

“I know, I’m confused too,” Essek said as he managed to sit up. The cat offered no resistance and slid into his lap, only meowed plaintively at Essek’s movement and the loss of his comfy spot. Maybe it was because the cat looked so sad, or maybe he really was just losing his edge, but when he stood up he scooped the cat in his arms. He gave the cat a quick bounce, like he had seen mothers do for babies. For a moment, again, Essek swore his eyes flashed blue but it was probably the light. The cat cocked his head at Essek like he didn’t understand what he was doing...and to be fair Essek didn’t either. Essek carefully settled the cat down, earning a final meow before the cat trotted off.

The house itself was quiet and dark, the clock on the kitchen wall read 3:00 AM. He must have fallen asleep on the couch...how utterly embarrassing. Essek had to decide what he could do then...would he sneak out without a word or should he leave a note of some kind. He didn’t want the Mighty Nein to think him unappreciative...but he also wanted nothing more than to go home, bury his head in his own sheets, and let the heat in his cheeks fade until he was his usual cold, icy shell of a person. 

A note would do, Essek thought. He would leave them a note, thanking them for their hospitality but saying how he had needed to get home-

His plans were immediately dashed by Caleb appearing in the kitchen. He was dressed in his uniform, the plan shirt and jeans. But his hair was bed-mussed, and he looked half-asleep on his feet. 

“You should still be sleeping,” Caleb noted with a frown. “It’s much too early for you to be up.” 

“Drow,” Essek said, pointing at himself. “I only need four hours to trance...about the same or less sleep when that happens. And you are certainly one to talk, you are a human. Aren’t humans supposed to sleep eight hours?” 

“Baker’s hours,” Caleb explained, rubbing at his face before literally running into the wall. “Sheisse! I gotta be at the bakery for four...didn’t get to sleep until twelve...” 

“Please, before you hurt yourself,” Essek motioning towards the stool by the kitchen island. “I’ll make some coffee for you.” 

Caleb blinked owlishly at Essek, as if now just truly registering his existence for the first time. To be fair, this did all feel like a dream. 

“You don’t have to-”

“I am not good at much in the kitchen, but I do pride myself on making a decent cup of coffee,” Essek promised him. “It at least keeps me alive and functional. Now, if you don’t mind?” 

Caleb sat down, following Essek’s request. There was an ancient looking percolator on the backburner of the stove, which Essek was grateful for. It wasn’t the Marquesian Press that Essek had in his own apartment, but Essek was certain it would brew a decent cup. Instant cup coffee machines were a new invention, and certainly were useful. But the coffee itself was just never as good as when you took the time. 

Essek filled the percolator with water and set the water to boil. He measured out a solid four tablespoons of ground coffee he found nestled between a sugar bowl and a honey jar, packing it down, placing the lid on the filter before putting it into the boiling water and covered it with the cap itself. As he let that boil and steep away he caught a glimpse at Caleb, who had mostly melted into the island, head in his arms. Frumpkin was curled next to him, tail swishing lazily. It was the tail running against Caleb’s bare arms that made Essek notice the scars there. They were old...pale against his fair freckled skin and red hair, marking up both forearms. 

Not your business, Essek told himself firmly, taking the bread on the counter and slicing it for toast and popping it in the toaster. Essek spied some apples, in a bowl and set to cutting them up as he waited. He didn’t know what Caleb even ate in the morning...he just hoped that toast, coffee, and an apple would be enough. As he chopped, Essek felt like he was doing some pale imitation of a housewife from an Empire sitcom. Essek didn’t make  _ breakfast _ ...he didn’t even cook. When he was on his own he made smoothies or rice. He bought breakfast at Caleb’s bakery in the morning when he didn’t. Essek didn’t understand this strange urge to do this, but felt if he didn’t he would be crippled by his own conscience. 

The coffee was done, and the toast popped up around the same time. And Essek settled it all in front of Caleb, who was definitely asleep from the way his breaths drew in and out calmly and deeply. Essek looked at Caleb for a long moment, taking in this quiet stolen moment of intimacy. Essek wanted to let him keep sleeping, but as Essek knew so well, Caleb’s job was important to him...and it was important to Essek. 

Gently...Essek settled his hands on Caleb’s forearm and hand. Essek could nearly feel the warmth emanating from him where he was sitting, pressed recently out from his sheets, and cringed at the thought of his cold hands pulling him from that. Caleb made a noise, a soft...vulnerable release of breath and Essek felt like his heart was being wringed dry...dragged out from whatever dark musty cobweb covered corner that Essek hid it in because Essek had never wanted to kiss someone so badly before in his life. 

“Caleb,” Essek murmured, forcing his voice to be calm and even. 

“Hm?” Caleb asked drowsily, attempting to drag his arms closer to his head...a strangely boyish and charming attempt to hide from waking up. 

“How do you take your coffee?” Essek asked him quickly removing his hands (even though he could have lingered in that moment forever), and this drew Caleb up...eyes fluttering open and squinting blearily. “And what would you like on your toast?” 

“A little milk or cream...whatever we have in the fridge,” Caleb said, rubbing his face and running his fingers through his hair as Essek opened the fridge. When he turned back, his curls were even less tamed then before. “And...just butter, there’s marmalade in the fridge too.” 

“There,” Essek said, pouring in a dash of milk into the coffee and setting the butter dish and bright orange fruit preserves on the table next to it besides the cut up apple. “Eat and wake up.” 

“You didn’t have to do this,” Caleb said, reaching for the mug as Essek poured his own cup. 

“No, I didn’t. But what can I say, I’m a kind and caring person,” Essek said with a sarcastic smile, taking a sip from his own mug. The coffee was smooth and had a nice body to it. “But please...this is just the bare minimum.” 

“It’s good,” Caleb said, his voice dipping and his accent drawing out the vowels. He took a second drink before giving Essek a look with humor glinting in his blue eyes. “You wouldn’t be in the market for a job as a barista, would you?”

“Oh please,” Essek said with a roll of his eyes. 

“I’m not kidding! You are obviously very talented.” 

“That’s my secret. I’m good at everything,” Essek said, raising his mug to hide his smile, basking at the compliment. 

“Oh? Really?”

“And I’m terribly competitive. Give me your recipe book and teach me to bake and I’ll put you out of business in three months.” 

“That I don’t doubt. I certainly wouldn’t want you as a business competitor,” Caleb chuckled. 

“Thankfully for everyone, I am not in business,” Essek said, sitting across from Caleb. “And I also can’t bake so the Xhorhaus Bakery is safe for now.” 

“We will all sleep well tonight with that knowledge,” Caleb said, slathering his toast with butter and marmalade and taking a bite. “Why don’t you have some?” 

“I’m fine,” Essek said, taking another sip of his coffee. “I won’t be hungry for a few hours yet if at all...I find it difficult to eat in the morning generally. I’m content where I am.”

“Keeping me company?” Caleb asked with a quirk of his lips. 

“If you don’t mind it,” Essek said. 

“No, I enjoy your company.” 

“You are a rare breed,” Essek noted. 

“Clearly they are lacking taste,” Caleb hummed. 

“Perhaps,” Essek said with a smile. 

“It’s too early for you guys to be flirting,” Beau said as she burst into the kitchen. Essek felt his face heat up. “Sweet, is that coffee?” 

“I believe it’s time for me to go regardless,” Essek said, moving by Beauregard to settle his mug in the sink, shoving everything down where he couldn’t feel anything because he needed to focus and escape this situation as quickly as possible. Her words were echoing in his head, thrumming like his desperate heartbeat. “Enjoy the coffee.” 

“Essek,” Caleb said, sounding hopeful. “This was fun...we...we should do this again sometime.” 

“Ah, yes-I mean, sometime, yes,” Essek said, cringing as he grabbed his coat and hastily yanked on his shoes. 

He was out the door at a solid half-run, shoving his hands in his coat pocket, dragging out his keys and jabbing them into the ignition. He was halfway down the street, holding back a scream as he did so. Do it again sometime, Caleb wanted  _ to do it again  _ sometime. How?  _ Why _ ? It didn’t make any sense. But Essek couldn’t control the desperate beating of his heart and the heat in his face and the way his stomach was full of a fluttering sensation he couldn’t name. 

Flirting. She was right, he had been  _ flirting _ ! Flirting with  _ Caleb _ . As if that was supposed to help him or this or make anything better? Essek couldn’t think that way, but that was the problem he hadn’t been thinking. What on Exandria had he been doing? Making him breakfast and falling asleep in his damn house with not a care in the world and…! He stopped at a red light and watched a couple cross, pushing their kid in a baby carriage. Then, it smacked Essek in the face like a fireball. 

Oh. 

_ Oh. _

Oh no. 

...he was in  _ love _ , wasn’t he? This wasn’t just some vague interest or errant attraction. He was in love, Essek was in love with Caleb. 

Someone honked at him and he realized he'd been sitting at a green light. Thankfully moments later he turned into the parking for his own building. He settled his forehead against the steering wheel, letting the waves of emotion wash over him. Essek wanted to scream. What was he supposed to do? What did people do when they were in love? How did people handle it? How was Essek supposed to deal with this situation? 

“Alright, Theylss. It’s time to think. What do you want?” Essek demanded of himself, staring at his own reflection as he pulled down the mirror. Essek looked exhausted and vaguely unhinged to his own eyes. “Screw the rest of them, what do  _ you _ want?” 

What does he want? He supposed that was the million platinum question. Did he want this to be a light flirtation? Something hot and heavy and fast? Or did he want something to build his life on? Caleb wanted to do it again sometime...wanted to spend time with him and banter over coffee. And Essek found that he wanted that more than anything he could imagine, wanted it so bad he could almost taste it like coffee and sweets and something warm that he could dwell in forever. 

But what if I ruin it? There came the part of Essek that he just couldn’t ignore. You’ll get hasty, you’ll make a mistake, and then the way you are won’t be a choice anymore...it’ll be your fault. It’s not safe. But...could he live with himself if he didn’t try? 

“Nothing I do is safe,” Essek told himself sternly, snapping up his mirror and exiting the car. 

* * *

So now that Essek had realized that he was in love with Caleb and wanted something to happen with that love, what was he to do with that information was on his mind? Well, he knew what the next logical step was. Most people that desired a romantic relationship with someone else asked that other person on a date. 

“A date,” Essek muttered, splashing his own face with water and then getting to work on his cleanser. 

What would Caleb want? Essek didn’t really know enough about him to know. He wanted to learn so badly though, so the date itself should be conducive to learning. Essek, also, found most of the trendy dates they covered in the publication to be outright cringe worthy. As if the stress of trying to escape from an escape room would be good to test out a spark? Dinner perhaps? Everyone ate dinner. He could ask Caleb out for dinner. If he got the feeling it was going well...then maybe it could be a date. If not, he could just commit to enjoying Caleb’s presence and friendship and pine like a lovesick fool. 

“Don’t rush into things,” Essek warned his reflection, smoothing on moisturizer and looking at himself critically. As usual his skin looked unmarked and unblemished...but...he could always go for a facial. His hair too could be done to be the tiniest fraction neater. It might be worth going to the bath house...but no, he was overthinking it...like always. He just needed to do it, find the right moment and ask Caleb out. 

Essek went to the bakery that morning as usual, though nothing else about the situation felt like normal. The line was full of the usual customers, the regulars that Essek could almost consider them acquaintances at this point even if they had never spoken a word to each other. The orc secretary from the building across from Essek’s, the drow woman who was always bouncing a baby or pushing a carriage, the dwarf running over for his coworkers from the auto shop two doors down.

Essek got to the front of the line, and saw Caleb there. He looked tired, but smiled as soon as he saw Essek. There was flour splashed against the front of his apron, and the dusting of something pink on his cheek, and Essek swore he had never seen a man so beautiful before in his whole damn life. Who knew that knowing someone and loving them could make them more beautiful? It all had to be brain chemistry, it couldn’t be really true, but it felt true. 

“Guten Morgen,” Caleb said. “The usual?” 

“Ah, yes, and what do you have for breakfast today?” Essek asked, his voice normal to his own ears (thankfully). 

“Jester was in the mood for some doughnuts, so I’ll be happy to put together a dozen for you,” Caleb said with a little smile. Jester. She was dancing behind the counter on the other side, chatting with usuals. She spotted him and waved, and Essek waved back numbly. She was beautiful, that was just plain to see. Essek wasn’t attracted to women like that but he knew it to be true. Caleb had smiled about Jester...what if? No. Essek scolded himself. It didn’t hurt to ask. 

“Yes, I’ll do that,” Essek said, not really thinking about the logistics of twelve doughnuts. Someone would have to eat them...he couldn’t horde them to himself, after all. (Even though each individual doughnut was probably delicious enough to warrant such behavior.) 

“I believe you’ll especially enjoy the black moss one,” Caleb said motioning to that specific doughnut in the case, punching in his order. 

“Receipt today please,” Essek said, the thought suddenly springing into his head… a plan sprouting quickly. Caleb printed out the receipt for him and turned to gather up his doughnuts. As he did so, Essek scrawled his number with his name on the back and slipped it into the tip container before Caleb turned back with his box. 

"Have a good day," Caleb said with a smile. 

"Yes, you too," Essek said, stomach twisted in his anxiety as he rushed out the door. 

Ball was in his court now. Caleb could text Essek, or he wouldn’t. And then if Caleb did decide to text Essek, Essek would ask Caleb out to dinner. Really, it was a perfect solution to the problem he was facing (which was, of course, the issue of the fear of being known). 

Essek arrived at work carrying both the drinks and the box of doughnuts. He handed Quana’s and Leylas’ regular orders to their secretary and then settled down at his desk as he waited for the first meeting of the day that would begin in approximately fifteen minutes. Leylas was meeting with some TV producer and a creative director to hash out exactly what she did and did not want aired on TV. He eyed the box of doughnuts, before flipping the lid just to satisfy his curiosity. 

Each doughnut was frosted with different decorations. There were two plain glazed, two chocolate glazed, and one plain and one cinnamon sugar it looked like. The rest were filled doughnuts, dusted with confectioners sugar or frosted with flowers or fruits decorating the sides. He picked up a doughnut, unable to resist it. It was quite beautiful, golden brown with a white frosting a single beautifully piped flower. Essek took a bite, if only to sate his grumbling stomach and wasn’t disappointed. It  _ melted _ in his mouth. Black moss was a recent phenomenon, and the taste was much like a high quality green tea, subtly sweet and with deep earthy notes. But of course...the frosting was vanilla and almond and just the hint of lemon...sweet and deliciously sour and pairing perfectly with the filling.

Lemon again...that fool, Essek thought feeling oddly emotional because Caleb knew what his favorite flavor was. Not that he had ever had a favorite flavor before, but he didn't think anyone had ever cared enough about him to learn. 

Essek looked at the top of the doughnut and realized that though there hadn’t been something written before, there was something written now. _ It’ll be a sweet day!  _ The handwriting was feminine and looping and had hearts in place of periods, most likely Jester’s doing. Essek smiled at the doughnut in his hand. It was a very cute, and as always inventive use for the spell Illusory Script. He wondered how they had worked out that trigger. It was almost a shame to eat it, though, he finished the whole doughnut quickly. When you were eating something that disappeared like that, it almost felt like you were eating air. It was too good to feel bad about, though he made sure to close the box and push it as far away from his hands as he could. He definitely didn’t want to push his luck on a second doughnut. 

Essek was in the middle of these thoughts when his phone vibrated, startling him out of his own brain. Essek nearly slammed his phone down onto the desk, screen down so he didn’t have to look at the message at first and then felt stupid for doing so. What if it was just a business text? What if it was his boss? He couldn’t just flinch and dither around all day like he was some lovestruck bachelor waiting by the door for word of an accepted engagement offer. He had a job to do, he couldn’t forget that. After all, his job was one of the one things that he was actually good at. 

He turned his phone over, and saw it was definitely not his boss. It was an unknown number...and under it a message for him. 

_ Hello this is Caleb _ .  _ Is this Essek?  _

Oh Luxon, it was happening. He had really texted him. What did people normally do in situations like this? How long should he wait before texting back? It had already been two minutes since he had received the text, that should be an appropriate amount of time. After all, for work, under five minutes tended to be the sweet spot for communication. But what should he say? That was a whole other can of wyrms. 

_ Hello, yes, this is Essek _ . Essek sent as he mushed ahead without a second thought, and then was immediately washed with a sense of existential dread so strong he wanted to bash his head into the desk. He reread his own response, wishing that he had majored in the dunamantic study of reversing time. He was being so formal and stilted. How was he supposed to bring up the idea of a date naturally in this state? Obviously someone was punishing him for his avarice and naturally impossible good looks. Really this was what he deserved. Maybe he shouldn’t have bad talked the Luxon so much as an angsty teenager. 

His phone buzzed in his hand, making him nearly drop it. He scrambled to right it in his fingers and read what Caleb had written. 

_ I’m glad, I had totally forgotten to ask you for your number the other day _ , was Caleb’s response. And then the second message came through before Essek could truly emotionally process what was going on, _ I meant what I said, I would like to spend more time with you if you would like? _

“Oh fuck it,” Essek muttered to himself, throwing caution to the wind. 

_ I was wondering if you would be interested in dinner? _ Essek sent, feeling his heart pounding in his ears as he did so. He waited for what seemed like an eternity, of agonizing over a single message because what if Essek had read this all wrong? What if Caleb didn’t feel the things that Essek did during those stolen moments during the day? 

His phone pinged, and Essek scrambled to open it up. 

_ Yes, I am _ . 

Just that was enough to relieve the pressure he had found on his lungs, allowing him to draw in a deep breath. Caleb was interested. He was interested in dinner. Then to his surprise another text came through immediately after. 

_ Tonight?  _

Tonight? Essek thought, mind reeling. He didn't have anything going on tonight. He could do it tonight. Could he get a table anywhere decent though was the question. He pulled up a certain restaurant and looked at the number. He may need to name drop. But, he could probably get it done...after all he was Essek Theylss. Getting things done how he wanted them was what he did for a career. He quickly managed to secure a table, and within five minutes he was typing back to Caleb.

_ Tonight it is. I’ll send you the address.  _

_ I’ll see you then.  _

Essek settled down his phone, attempting to control his urge to smile as he spun in his chair. Tonight, a date with Caleb tonight. Even if Caleb hadn’t read it as such, he could make this work to his favor regardless. Something to look forward to...that was another thing that Caleb had given him that had broken the monotony of Essek’s routine. It took so little to make him happy recently...another new development that was all Caleb’s fault. Just this...the promise of seeing Caleb again was enough. 

“Essek, meeting’s starting,” Quana said as she walked by his desk. Essek stood up, pocketing his phone as he did so and grabbing his tablet. 

“Thank you,” Essek told her as he walked beside her. 

“Did something good happen?” Quana asked suspiciously. 

“Perhaps,” Essek answered, his smile rehearsed...and yet, feeling more genuine than it ever had before. 

* * *

Essek looked at himself in the mirror again. As always, he looked attractive. The trip after work to the barber had been worth the trouble he thought as he inspected the neat lines and cut of his hair. He still didn’t know if Caleb was attracted to men...or drow. He had heard that some people were particular about species, though he had never understood attraction to begin with so he certainly wasn’t an expert. But...he hadn’t pulled away when Essek had touched his arm...so that was a good sign that maybe he was in luck. Regardless, Essek found it hard to believe that many could resist his good looks. It happened of course, but, his pretty face could only serve as a boon tonight. 

He had dressed in a charcoal grey suit, and was finishing tying his tie as his phone rang. Thinking it might be Caleb he excitedly picked it up, only to feel his face twist. Ugh. This was the last thing he wanted right now. Looking seriously at the caller ID on his phone, and knowing that if he didn’t answer he would be in a whole world of trouble, he sighed as he answered the call and opened his closet. He scanned the rack he kept of his shoes, looking for something formal but comfortable. 

“Yes mother?” Essek asked her, voice clipped and short even to his own ears. 

“Is that any way to greet your mother?” Dierta asked with a sigh, though she didn’t sound too annoyed with Essek. She had to be used to his attitude at this point in their relationship after all. 

“I’m just a little busy at the moment,” Essek said, picking out a pair of black shoes and setting them down on the floor. “What did you need?” 

“Essek, we’re going to have a dinner tonight with Den VeSunn, and we’ll-”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not available tonight,” Essek said with a sigh, managing to get his first shoe on by shoving it on his foot, but he almost lost his balance. He settled down on the couch, hoping to not repeat that performance. He found the second shoe was much easier to pull on sitting. 

“You aren’t available?” Dierta asked incredulously. “What? Is Leylas having a party or something? I certainly wasn’t invited to one.” 

“No, Mother, I have plans tonight so I will be unavailable,” Essek repeated as he walked over to his dresser and picked out some earrings that capped the end of his ear and dangled attractively without being too ostentatious. He put his mother on speaker so he could use both hands and not stab himself. He doubted that Caleb would find bleeding or bruised ears attractive. 

“You have plans?”

“Is that so hard to believe?” Essek asked sarcastically, and considering the noise his mother gave him on the other side of the line apparently it was. 

“What could be more important than this?” Dierta demanded incredulously, sounding more annoyed than anything. 

“If you  _ must _ know, I have a date tonight,” Essek said with a snap at his phone, finally losing his well worn sense of patience. “Does that satisfy your need to know?” 

There was silence on the other side of the line. It was long enough that he stopped what he was doing and confirmed that his mother hadn’t hung up on him. For a dark moment Essek was sure he had given his mother a heart attack and would now only be known as that poor son of a bitch who had killed his mother by having a social life. He realized then that he didn’t think he had ever told his mother about any of his dates before...not that he had gone on more than a handful, and he certainly hadn’t gone on any within the past five years.  _ Oh Gods...what have a I done? _ Essek thought hopelessly.  _ Why did I feel the need to tell her?  _

“ _ Really _ ?” Dierta asked, sounding shocked and delighted and stopping Essek from texting his brother to go check on her. Essek could feel a headache coming on. “What’s her den? Her name? Her profession-” 

“ _ Goodbye mother _ ,” Essek said forcefully before hanging up the phone. 

Essek shook his head and fixed his tie, looking in the mirror one last time before grabbing his keys. The drive itself felt like the longest ten minutes of his life, but thankfully he wasn’t inundated with calls from his mother or the den demanding answers. When he got to the restaurant he was about five minutes early, just as he had planned. He confirmed with the host about his seat, and he was brought over to a table in a more private section of the restaurant. 

“Would you like to start with a drink, sir?” a waiter asked him. 

“Just water to start, I’ll wait for my companion before ordering anything,” Essek told him, and as the waiter smiled and went to do as Essek asked. He took a moment to put his phone on silent and tuck it away in his jacket pocket. He didn’t even want to think about seeing any of his mother’s texts or emails from work. For once, Essek was truly on his own time. 

It was a moment later that Caleb appeared, looking winded. He was dressed in a white cable knit sweater and tan slacks, his hair was half pulled back in a bun with red curls lapping at his neck. When he saw Essek he smiled, looking relieved. 

“I’m sorry, I got a bit caught up with the bakery,” Caleb said breathlessly. “Guten abend, Essek.” 

“No, no, it’s fine,” Essek said, motioning to the other seat in front of him. Caleb took it. “Thank you for joining me tonight.” 

“Please don’t thank me,” Caleb said with a warm...hopeful smile. “I’ve been looking forward to this since you asked me.”

“I...same,” Essek said, unable to come up with anything else to say really. What could he say?  _ I’m sorry if this is an inconvenience but I’m in love with you and if you don’t love me back I’ll respect that but pine after you for the rest of my life like some sort of tragic widower waiting for her long lost husband who had been taken by the sea _ ? Granted, that was all true, but it sounded pathetic when he laid it out like that. 

“I’ve never been here before,” Caleb said as he looked around. “I don’t think I’ve eaten traditional Xhorhassian food before either.”

“You haven’t?” Essek asked, surprised. 

“I have to admit...it’s a bit intimidating,” Caleb chuckled. “I grew up with a selection of eating potatoes, bread, and maybe a turnip or an apple for some variety.” 

“There’s a lot of fermenting...vegetables especially. Use of mushrooms, and of course, whatever animals that are natural to the region. Also, of course, rice. Tell me, how are you with spice?” 

“I’m fairly alright with spice,” Caleb said. 

“I have a few favorites here and I’d be happy to point them out to you, but, when the waiter comes back we can order drinks first. No need to rush,” Essek said, spying the waiter returning with water. “Order anything you’d like.” 

“This has to be one of the most expensive restaurants in the city,” Caleb said, sounding incredulous as he looked at the menu and did a double take. 

“And I’m paying for it,” Essek told him, crossing his legs. “Whatever you want, I’m completely serious.” 

“You shouldn’t-”

“Don’t argue with me, just enjoy this.” 

“Alright then...there’s a saying about a gift and a horse but I don’t remember how it goes. Ach, I don’t know enough about Xhorhassian liquor to make an educated decision,” Caleb said, mouth quirking in a teasing smile. “And I don’t know what would go best with any food.” 

“Well, for once I believe I have an idea. My personal favorite appetizer here is the Turtle Bone Soup, though, the spicy fried spider legs are quite good too. I’ve heard that...for your reference, turtles taste a bit like beef and spiders are like crab.” 

“ _ Turtle _ ?” Caleb asked with a surprised laugh. “I haven’t had a turtle before in that way...I’ll have to give it a try.” 

And so Essek ordered the two bowls of soup and a platter of the fried spider legs to share. As they waited they began to talk, first about the Mighty Nein itself. Essek couldn’t help but indulge his curiosity about what pit fighting must have been like. The answer was terrifying but very profitable. Caleb also recounted his first meeting with the other members of his friend group, laughing about how Jester had nearly broken all the windows in the bar with her demonstration of her magic. 

“So she is a cleric?” Essek asked, taking a spoonful of his soup. The food itself was delicious, the meaty savory broth a perfect pairing with the spicey sauce and sweet meat of the spider legs and the cold root vegetable slaw that they served on the side. It was strange...he had eaten this exact order before...but he could have sworn it hadn’t tasted as delicious. He wondered if there was a new chef. “I was wondering, though, I hadn’t recognized the symbol on her bracelet.”

“I’m surprised she hasn’t mentioned the Traveler to you yet,” Caleb noted. “She’s quite...taken with him, would be the best way to put it.” 

“My mother is the same way,” Essek commented with a sip of his wine. “She had always been a religious woman, so I’m used to spontaneous religious lectures.” 

“If it isn't rude to ask...what deity does your family worship?”

“The Luxon,” Essek said, “though I’m not religious...don’t tell my mother that though.” 

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Is the rest of your family religious then?”

“It’s hard to say,” Essek sighed, swirling the wine in his glass. “My mother has had a few relationships in her life, she is long lived. I’m not particularly close to my half siblings as a result of them being...oh, about a hundred years older than me. My brother...well, I wouldn’t say he’s too religious but he’s more religious than me.” 

“You have a big family?”

“Technically. We are drow, blessed with long natural lives and large dens. It leads to relatively complex family trees and strange family get-togethers,” Essek explained. “What about you?” 

“I...ah…” Caleb said, a shadow quickly falling across Caleb’s features. Phantom pain twisted there, like Essek was rubbing salt into open wounds. “I lost my parents a while ago. The Mighty Nein is my family now.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Essek said, feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet. Unsure of how best to comfort him, Essek squirmed in his seat for a moment trying to think of a response. But Caleb did it for him, as he reached out and settled his fingers over Essek’s hand. Essek stared incredulously at Caleb for a moment, but didn’t move his hand. He couldn’t believe that Caleb was  _ touching _ him, in a way that could only be read as romantic. He couldn’t believe this was happening. 

“It was a long time ago,” Caleb said, though he looked as haunted as a man who had just suffered the loss the day before. Essek wondered what it must be like to love someone else in such a way. He wondered if that was what he was feeling now for Caleb. Just feeling it for Caleb was overwhelming...he couldn’t imagine having felt like this so many times before in his life and then losing those he had come to adore. How did one bear it? Just the thought was enough to twist his stomach...to make him want to make ridiculous promises to Caleb like the hero in a romantic drama. But Essek couldn’t do that...he was just Essek. All he could do was this. 

“Tell me about something else then, Caleb, how did you come about spellcasting?” Essek asked, ruefully extricating his hand from Caleb’s as the waiter came back to fill up their glasses of water. 

“Well, at first it wasn’t a hobby,” Caleb said. “Well, as a child I managed a few things with an old spell book my mother bartered from a passing merchant. But I did my compulsory years in the military, as do all men in the Empire. It was there that it was determined rather quickly that I had no talent as a soldier...but I could make a decent mage.” 

“I see,” Essek said. “In Xhorhassian schools you are given introductory courses to most known and legal methods of magic but most don’t stick with it nowadays. Wizardry is a relatively niche subject to pursue.” 

“But you did, didn’t you?” 

“I did, I was top in my class at the Marble Tomes Conservatory,” Essek said with a proud smile. “I...I have to admit...it’s been a long time since I’ve thought so frequently about magic. But I find myself thinking of it often when I’m with you...it makes me happy.” 

“Magic is what you love, ja? Have you ever just thought...fuck it? I’ll go back into it?” Caleb’s tone was light with humor. 

“The thought has crossed my mind before,” Essek admitted. “But I’m good at my job...I find it hard to justify leaving it to chase a dream.” 

“Forget your job for a moment,” Caleb said pointing at Essek with his spoon. “Imagine that money isn’t an issue. What is it that you are most interested in right now?” 

Right now? He thought about it. He was most interested in taking Caleb’s face in his hands and kissing him honestly, but Essek didn’t think that was the answer that Caleb was looking for. But if he was thinking of a socially acceptable answer to the question? 

“I’ve been thinking about the marzipan,” Essek admitted. 

“...the marzipan? I don’t follow.” 

“On the cake...for my bosses,” Essek said before sucking in a suddenly self-conscious breath. “Never mind, it’s foolish.” 

“Nein, I want to hear it,” Caleb promised. 

“Well… you know how it was discussed that you were going to be using sculpted marzipan to shape into birds...and then utilize animate object?” Essek asked and Caleb nodded, following his thought. “I was thinking about using the spell _ adjust density _ to compliment it...give the appearance that the birds fly and then return to the cake.” 

“I’ve never heard of that spell,” Caleb said, sounding utterly enthralled. His food was forgotten in front of him as he leaned in closer to Essek, wide blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Is that from the school of dumaturgy?” 

“Yes, it’s a second level graviturgist spell.” 

“How fascinating,” Caleb said. “Tell me, how exactly does this spell work?” 

Thankfully this carried the conversation away from Essek and his career to magic, which Essek was far more comfortable discussing. Caleb was excited about the idea, but also seemed genuinely interested in the mechanics and the minutiae of such a low level spell. It was one of the first spells a graviturgist learned in school, and yet Caleb seemed content to discuss how the spell could work in congruity with a spell like flight to both lengthen and strengthen the effect. Essek wished, strangely, that he had brought his spellbook. Not that it would have been appropriate on any other first date, but now he felt foolish for not thinking of it. His wrist pocket nowadays was home to things like his car keys and his portable phone charger...not his spellbook. 

By the time dinner completed, they had managed to work through a few possible ideas on how Caleb could incorporate those spells into an already spell-heavy cake. Essek snapped the check out from Caleb grasp as the waiter set it down, sliding in his credit card before Caleb could even look at the bill. 

“Now that was conniving,” Caleb said. 

“I told you, I am happy to take care of it,” Essek said as the waiter returned and Essek signed the check. 

“Then let me treat you to something,” Caleb said. “Veth’s husband Yeza owns the Apothecary. Have you ever heard of it?” 

“No,” Essek admitted, frowning. 

“It is an old fashioned apothecary in the day, but a nice cocktail bar at night. It’s only a few blocks from here...let me get you a drink, only if you would like of course.” 

Caleb didn’t want this night to end either, Essek realized, hoping his excitement wasn’t plain to see on his face. He was, hopefully...as always...the picture of calm cool and collected. But beyond excited...it relieved Essek. Now it was so much easier to believe that perhaps...maybe...just maybe Caleb felt the same way that Essek did. 

“I cannot abide by the idea that there is a bar that I am not acquainted with in this city so I’ll take you up on your offer,” Essek said as he put on his jacket and looped his scarf. When he finished he looked to see Caleb opening the door for him, allowing Essek to duck out first. Essek looked at Caleb, noting his scarf was in complete disarray and motioned for Caleb to come closer. Essek reached up and relooped the strands until Caleb looked presentable. “There. Now you won’t freeze to death.” 

“I’m a little heartier than you might think,” Caleb laughed, cheeks and nose reddening in the cold. It made the dusting of freckles across his nose and his cheek more vivid, as did the shadow of his beard. He wondered what it was like to kiss a man with a beard. Essek had never done that before...

“Perhaps, but I’ve always been paranoid,” Essek admitted, trying to shake his mind from his desires for two minutes. 

Caleb walked them down three blocks exactly and turned them left once. Essek found that the night air...though cold, was thankfully grounding in these strange dreamlike times. It was nearly impossible to argue that this whole date...it had to be considered a date at this point... so far was just a figment of his imagination when the winter air was biting at his ears and making his earring jingle. They arrived at the Apothecary, as it was advertised on the street. 

The bar itself was pleasantly full, the building was a lot of warm exposed wood and lantern and candle lighting, with herbs hanging to dry and jars filled with various liquids in shelves on the walls. Couples and groups were seated at small circular tables and at the counter-bar. When they walked in, the halfling behind the bar perked up. Essek wasn't familiar with many halflings as they were still a new sight in Rosohna. The halfling man was balanced on a rolling stool. He wasn't traditionally handsome, but there was something immediately comforting about his appearance. He had an open friendly face, accompanied with a riot of untamed brown curls and sideburns, and round glasses that were precariously perched on his face. He grinned as Caleb walked up to the bad, and looked at Essek knowingly in a way that made his skin tingle. He wasn't sure what that meant but it wasn't a good sign. 

"Good evening, Yeza. I don't think you've met Essek. Essek, this is Yeza Bernatto, Veth's husband," Caleb introduced. 

"A pleasure," Essek said with a prim nod, before seeing the halfling's stocky hand pop out from behind the bar. 

"So this is the mysterious Essek! It's wonderful to meet you, my wife's spoke about you many times! Thank you for coming to the Apothecary," Yeza greeted, and Essek took the offered hand as gracefully as he could and quickly dropped it. "Veth will be back out in a minute, but in the meantime Caleb do you want your usual?" 

“Flight of Trost, ja,” Caleb said, his accent delicious on the word  _ trost _ . Now that was something Essek wanted to drink down greedily. 

“Trost?” Essek repeated as Yeza slid the drink menu to him. 

“The word means comfort in Zemnian, but it’s a kind of beer,” Caleb said and Essek watched the halfling pour the four smaller glasses of beer and arrange them on the tray. “From a region famous in the Empire for it. Do you drink beer?”

“Not really,” Essek admitted, trying to refocus away from Caleb’s voice and back to reality. Beer in Xhorhas was a newer fad, and considering their abysmal track record of growing wheat, anything he had drank from Xhorhas had tasted watered down and stale. He had beers from the Empire before, at the luxurious parties put on by nouveau riche dens, but found it far less pleasant than other spirits. “I prefer wines and liquors.” 

“How about a Health Potion?” Yeza offered, having obviously been listening in to the conversation. 

“A health potion?” Essek asked incredulously. 

“I’m very clever with titles,” Veth said, appearing from the back carrying snacks for the couple on the other side of the bar. She settled her hands on her hips and presented herself like a queen in her own castle. “It’s mulled wine, perfect for this weather. We keep it on simmer in the back.” 

“Sure, I’ll have that then,” Essek said for lack of any other idea and because Veth was Caleb’s friend and Essek wanted them to like him for some reason he hadn’t quite figured out yet. He watched as Veth disappeared and then reappeared once more with a glass mug that she settled in front of him and then garnished with a cinnamon stick and a twist of orange rind. Mulled wine had to be a Empire thing...he hadn’t ever heard of heating wine. In fact, in Xhorhas they traditionally served wine at frigid temperatures and over ice. The liquid was a deep burgundy, and he prepared himself as he took a sip with all of the enthusiasm of a child taking a spoonful of cough syrup or an actual health potion. 

Instead, the drink was delicious. There were the fruity notes of apple cider and the brightness of oranges, the deep flavor of a red wine Essek had yet made the acquaintance of as well as the softer feel of perhaps a merlot and the caramel finish of a port, and had the kick of cinnamon and cloves and cardamom. It immediately transported him somewhere with a roaring fire and a fur rug and a good book tucked next to him by his favorite armchair. 

“What type of wine is this?” Essek asked. 

“It’s from Kamordah, not one the more expensive vineyards...those can cost you an arm and a leg. But even the affordable booze from there is delicious,” Veth said. 

“Veth’s the expert,” Caleb noted. 

“Oh come off it,” Veth said with a dismissive wave before leaning against the counter, her long braids sweeping against the wood. “Or, you can continue to compliment me, I don’t mind.” 

“We all know you are fabulous, my little friend,” Caleb said with a fond look in his eyes. “I knew it from the first time I met you.” 

“Out of everyone in that holding cell, I can assure you, I was the best pick.” 

“Holding cell?” Essek repeated, only because he thought he must have heard her wrong. But instead, Veth planted herself proudly in his view as if she could make herself three feet taller by just her confidence. 

“We met in jail,” Veth said cheerily for someone who had been to jail, and Caleb hung his head in exaggerated despair. Then, immediately she looked suspiciously at him. “You aren’t going to report me right?”

“I don’t care about that sort of thing,” Essek said. 

“Don’t tell him about my sordid past!” Caleb bemoaned. 

“What were you in jail for?” Essek asked, faking suspicion. 

“Public intoxication,” Veth said. 

“Loitering,” Caleb admitted. 

“Loitering?” Essek repeated. 

“Sleeping while poor,” Caleb corrected. “I was roughing it most nights back then, ja?” 

“We both were. But regardless, I’ll leave you two to it,” Veth said with a long knowing look at Caleb, which had Caleb blushing and hiding his face in his beer. Yeza had already drifted off to welcome more regulars to the bar. 

“I didn’t know I was out with a criminal tonight,” Essek said with a sidelong glance at Caleb.

“Don’t look so damned pleased with yourself,” Caleb grumbled. 

“Oh, I’m not smiling about your crimes...which are, I promise, nothing worse than I did in University. But, I’m more pleased at the thought of what my mother would say if she knew I was spending my evening with someone with an actual record of law breaking. I derive great pleasure from her pearl clutching,” Essek admitted with a grin that felt too sharp to be his usual placeholder. 

“Oh? What sort of crimes did a young Essek Theylss get up to in university?” Caleb asked curiously, finishing his first glass. 

“I made sure that everyone had what they needed at any given time,” Essek said with a smirk and a sip of his drink. “I have always been very good at cultivating relationships that benefit me. That’s what breaking the law while rich allows you to do.” 

“...if you weren’t being so hilarious I might be offended,” Caleb said with a laugh that resonated from his belly and filled Essek with warmth, like the simmering mulled wine in his cup. He felt pleasantly buzzed, like he was drunk from just a few sips. But it was Caleb’s presence that was so addicting...so effecting. He couldn’t even remember a time where he had smiled the way he was smiling now...when he hadn’t been with Caleb or the Mighty Nein. He didn’t think anyone had ever called him  _ hilarious _ . He was sure that if his coworkers or his family heard Caleb say that they would have had Caleb checked in for psychiatric help, and the Essek before wouldn’t have blamed them. But Essek was slowly becoming acquainted with the person he could be around Caleb and perhaps it was the person Essek actually was but not buried under the mounds of baggage he carried from place to place like it was the gravity pulling him straight to the center of the earth. And the more Essek was becoming acquainted with Caleb and acquainted with himself the more Essek didn’t ever want to go back. 

“Perhaps you should be,” Essek dared because apparently Essek was daring now, another recent development that surprised him. Caleb’s eyes had a little heat in them as Essek caught his gaze, and Essek was thrilled because they were flirting and it was going well and it didn’t make Essek feel like he wanted to find the closest window to jump out of. Essek settled his hand on Caleb’s where it was resting on his chair. Caleb didn’t move it, instead he took another sip of his drink and intertwined his fingers with Essek’s. Essek blushed into his cup with his words stuck in his throat, but felt that this could certainly be enough. 

And so Essek soaked up the next hour or so of Caleb’s company. They talked about a wide berth of topics, from philosophy to mathematics to even theoretical spellcrafting. That was the gift of Caleb, he was always able to meet him where his mind was going and find something interesting to say. He was quite unlike anyone else that Essek had ever known. What a gift it was to be able to just be with someone who understood you. It was something that Essek was learning to cherish. But at some point he noticed Caleb’s eyes drooping, and took note of the time. 

“I should be heading home now,” Essek said, and before Essek could attempt to pay for this as well Veth waved at Caleb. 

“It’s on Caleb’s tab,” Veth said, and Essek gave Caleb a look which he met with feigned cluelessness. 

“Let me walk you back to your car,” Caleb said as he stood. 

“There’s no need for that, you are going in the opposite direction,” Essek pointed out to him as they left the bar and stood on the street. Snowflakes drifted into streetlights, casting pale light that made Caleb’s eyes a vivid dark shade. “Thank you...for tonight. I had a wonderful time.” 

“I would be happy to do it again any time,” Caleb promised him, standing close to him now...far more close then Essek could ever have imagined him being. “Your company is truly a great pleasure...there are very few people that I can talk to the way I do with you. I...I hope you feel the same way.” 

“I do,” Essek is what he said. _ I love you _ , is what he meant. 

For a moment that Essek swore was suspended in the air, they shared something heavier than a breath...a kiss that was almost softer than a kiss. It set his heart fluttering so he couldn’t have imagined it...the sensation of Caleb’s scruff and the warmth of his hand was too vivid for him to have made it up. It was inquisitive and gentle and all Essek’s and he wouldn’t ever trade it for anything. 

I love you, Essek’s heart said as it finally found its rhythm between Caleb’s kisses. _ I love you _ . 


	5. Starving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He still looked devastatingly attractive in every possible way and it wasn’t fair because he looked like he had just rolled out of the bed. Essek needed at least an hour in the morning to talk himself into being even vaguely pleasant.
> 
> “Oh! Guten Morgen, and welcome back to the Xhorhaus Bakery,” Caleb said, a certain pleasant crinkle to his expression. He was smiling a soft, gentle smile that caught Essek off guard. “What can I get you this morning?”
> 
> At Xhorhaus Bakery, where the Mighty Nein bake up Rosohna's most delectable treats, magic is something that is in the air. For Essek Theylss, there might just be love there too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really can’t believe that this is the penultimate chapter of this fic, just one more chapter after this! It’s crazy. Again, the amount of support I’ve gotten over this AU is something I really appreciate, especially in these weird times. Thanks so much and I hope this chapter delivers what you need! I seriously appreciate every review I get, and I thank you for it. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Recommended listening: Starving Hailee Steinfield (feat Zedd)

Somehow or another, Essek found himself at the gym. 

Essek hated the gym...well, it was more the idea of the gym that he hated. He didn't like working out, nor did he enjoy being sweaty or sore. He had never achieved that post workout glow that so many claimed to get. Instead, when he finished working out he tended to look and feel like someone had run him over and then scraped him off the side of the road. His distaste for the gym had never been a problem before. He had a membership because...well, he felt that as a functioning adult he ought to have one and it was no more than that. 

But Essek had to face the facts...he had gained some weight. It wasn't that he wasn't active or taking the stairs...but he was simply eating more than he had ever eaten in his whole life. And  _ frequently _ . That was the real kicker. Three meals a day would have been some insurmountable hurdle before. He hadn't ever been hungry and when he did eat...it all tasted bland. But now? Well, Caleb had certainly changed a few things in his life. Essek was slender as most elves were, but he felt that if he were eating sweets he ought to at least commit to the gym for minimal activity. 

Essek was on the treadmill, having plugged into to listen to a forty minute podcast as he walked at a brisk pace to get his heart rate up. Though, the way that the podcast was analyzing one of his favorite movies was enough to do that in spades. Regardless, Essek was about thirty minutes in when he noticed someone familiar on the other side of the room. 

Yasha was impossible to miss, after all she was a veritable mountain of a woman. Tall and broad and muscular in the way that was mostly left to bodybuilders. The fact she was at a gym wasn’t what was surprising to Essek...the fact that she was at his gym was what was really throwing him off. Why was she there? That was a stupid question, obviously she was there to work out like he was. What were you supposed to do when you saw someone you knew in a public place? Essek didn’t know Yasha well...she was an acquaintance, but unlike most of his other acquaintances he actually didn’t despise her so his usual plan of attack to escape as quickly as possible didn’t seem appropriate. What did people usually do in this situation? Should he walk by and see if she saw him and reacted? No, then it would seem unnatural. Better to just finish up what he was doing and hope that she just left and didn’t notice him. That seemed like the most prudent course of action. 

Essek spent the last ten minutes of his power walk trying not to crawl out of his own skin with anxiety. Essek had just finished his walk and was taking a drink from his water bottle when the sensation of being watched washed over him. Essek looked over and met Yasha’s gaze. They stared at each other awkwardly for a few moments...Yasha had just settled down from pull ups and was stretching her arms. She really was impressive, she could probably snap Essek’s spine in half by just flexing her arm. She waved at him awkwardly, and Essek...knowing he had to go through the door beside her to leave walked over in her direction. 

“Good morning,” he greeted, hoping his voice sounded normal. His smile was plastered on his face like it was duct-taped and hanging by a thread, because there was little else he could do. “I didn’t know you came here.” 

“Only recently,” Yasha confirmed, shifting on her feet as if ascertaining the best way to become smaller and less threatening...as if she were concerned that Essek was a prey animal who could be spooked at the sigh of her. “Fjord’s swimming...and I like to work out here because it’s not busy.” 

“I understand that,” Essek admitted. If there was anything worse than being sweaty and sore and uncomfortable...it was being all of those things while also around people who could judge you for it. “Well...I’m done, and I was going to grab a smoothie at the bar...so…”

Essek tried not to cringe at his blatant awkwardness. Yasha nodded seriously, and then to his surprise placed back the dumbells and looked at him expectantly. Oh. She thought it had been an invitation to join him and not a hasty retreat. Well it would be rude to correct her, Essek thought at himself. Essek couldn’t be rude to her, even if he wanted to. She was Caleb’s friend. It was strategically important to him to be nice to Caleb’s friends. And also...he didn’t want to be rude to her, which was a new development in his life because he normally liked being rude to people but the thought of being mean to Yasha made him feel like he was going to choke on his own tongue for some reason. Was this what people felt all the time? He wasn’t sure this was a positive change anymore. 

Essek meandered over to the place where a perky half-orc who looked like she could run ten miles a day and probably did hot yoga to unwind took his order. Essek got some kind of healthy smoothie monstrosity and sat down to drink in the noticeably uncomfortable chairs. It was as if they wanted to make you feel bad for sitting, another reason why Essek hated the gym. Yasha joined him, drinking her own smoothie. For the most uncomfortable minute of his life, Essek wondered if Yasha was expecting him to say something. The problem was that Essek was horrible at saying something. Or, he was at least horrible at saying something when it wasn’t one of the things that he was being paid to say. Essek still didn’t understand how people went around just...starting conversations and not seeming disingenuous. And worst of all, he was sure this would get back to Caleb and he didn’t stand a chance of escaping this conversation without fucking  _ that _ up somehow. Thankfully, Yasha took pity on him and spoke first. 

“So...Caleb,” Yasha noted. 

“Yes. Quite,” Essek said.

And then neither of them were talking again, and Essek could feel his panic twisting at his gut. The quiet went on for at least a solid 30 seconds, with Essek squirming in that gods-awful seat and just wishing someone would just take him out with the nearest barbell. And then, Essek came to a sudden epiphany. 

“Oh...was there something you wanted to ask?” Essek offered, and Yasha nodded. 

“Yes.” 

“I see...alright?” Essek asked, hoping that Yasha wasn’t planning on being the one taking him out. 

“You like Caleb?” Yasha asked, and it wasn’t a question that was really a statement. It was a genuine curious question. 

“I do,” Essek asked, not willing to commit to the other “l” word out loud. He could only get into trouble by doing that. Yasha nodded, her expression thoughtful as she regarded him. She met his eyes briefly and then ducked back down to look at her smoothie. 

“And Caleb?” Yasha asked. 

“...you’ll have to ask Caleb about that I suspect,” Essek said. Yasha nodded seriously but didn’t lift her gaze again, instead, she seemed content with swirling the straw of her smoothie. Essek didn’t know if he could say for sure...their relationship was in a bit of a hazy spot right now. What did you call someone you went on a date with and kissed once? Who texted you saying they wanted to do it again sometime. It wasn’t like they were  _ together _ . And they certainly hadn’t had sex, so Essek wouldn’t call Caleb his lover or friend with benefits. But Essek had met his friends and been over to his house before. It was all very confusing to Essek in a way that it probably wasn’t confusing to anyone else on the planet. What would he call Caleb? His  _ almost-boyfriend _ ? That felt so juvenile, and yet that was the best description he could think of. 

“You make him happy,” Yasha said, looking back up at Essek. 

“...I’m glad, he makes me happy too,” Essek admitted. “All of you do...I wasn’t very happy before I met all of you, but I think I might be getting there.” 

“That’s good,” Yasha said, her quiet voice sure and firm in her conviction. Essek was about to agree with her, when he spotted Fjord ducking out from the hallway. Though Essek wouldn’t say that Fjord was his type, it was hard to deny that the man was attractive. Especially as his hair dripped and droplets traced the column of his neck and his shirt clung to his chest. He felt like to preserve Fjord’s dignity and Essek’s own honor he ought to look away. 

“Oh, hello Essek,” Fjord greeted kindly. “I didn’t expect to see you.” 

“That makes two of us,” Essek noted, trying to find Fjord’s eyes more interesting then his see-through shirt...which he was having a hard time with. 

“I...uh, heard your date with Caleb went well,” Fjord said, looking somewhat awkward for the one in the group who tended to do the talking. Essek wondered if it was because he was talking about his friend, or if it was just the topic of romance that was somewhat daunting for him. Essek nodded, only because he was bereft of any substantial answer. Fjord seemed to accept this. “Well, I’m glad. It’s good for Caleb...to, you know, have someone he likes spending time with.” 

Essek was about to say something...to agree perhaps, when Fjord’s phone buzzed. He looked at it, did a double take, and then immediately looked at Yasha. 

“Yasha, we’re gonna need to go,” Fjord said, calmly but firmly. “Issue at the bakery.” 

Yasha nodded and stood up from her seat as she did. 

“Essek, it was nice seeing you,” Fjord promised, holding out his hand. Essek took it, and was surprised but the assured grip. “Have a nice day now. We’ll see you in...three days right?”

“Thank you...you as well. I hope that everything is fine at the bakery,” Essek wished, thinking suddenly of the vow renewal. “See you then.” 

Fjord smiled and then him and Yasha were off, leaving Essek behind. Essek threw away his drink, his stomach flipping like he had just been in a car crash. 

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Essek grumbled to himself under his breath as he rushed out to his car. He turned on the radio in an effort to drown his own twisting and agonizing thoughts but found himself still extremely unsettled. “Why are you so stupid?” 

“Welcome back, you are listening to 836 KRN, Rosohna Hit Music, back with more of our top ten countdown. Number 1 again for the second week in a row is “Best Laid Plans” by Kaylie-”

Essek growled, and turned the radio off. 

* * *

By the time that Essek arrived to the party, it was in full swing at the Theylss ancestral home. Cars lined the streets, not that Essek minded parking further away. He personally always enjoyed having a moment or two to breath in the fresh night air and cool his head before interacting with his relatives. It never did him well to come into a viper den at full throttle. Essek made a subdued entrance to the party, handing off his overcoat to be hung in the closet and then finding the closest server carrying drinks. Even from the first moments, he attempted to stick to the outer fray of the party, but as always his mother sniffed him out within five minutes of arrival. 

"Essek," Deirta called, waving him over. Essek obliged her. "A wonderful suit. Did you get it at the family's tailor, darling?" 

"As always, mother," Essek sighed. He did look rather fetching that night, but then again he always did. He had opted for a black suit, but with some touches of gold as opposed to his usual silver to spice things up. He had wondered what Caleb would have thought of him tonight, and then had immediately stopped thinking about it for danger of getting an aneurism. 

The entire den was here, half-siblings and distant cousins, “uncles” and “aunts” and relatives of every sort and enough spouses and lovers and children that it made his head spin. Usually he would find a dark corner after he got his drink (or drinks) and fade into the background after his round of greetings. Unfortunately his mother had hooked him like a fish before he could do so, and was probably planning on subjecting him to another round of introductions. The event was being held at the ancestral home, as most important den events were. Really, this was just a family reunion but with other causes. Namely, all of the relatives were here for the Vow Renewal that they were all invited to as members of Den Theylss. Essek would have to play a balancing act between den member and employee, and would have to find a way to make everyone happy. But then again, he was good at performing miracles for an atheist. 

“I am happy you made it tonight,” Deirta said as she smiled at a passing great-uncle. “I thought you might have been too busy.” 

“Too busy?” Essek asked. “For the den? Never. But what did you think I would be too busy with?” 

“Preparations, dear, that’s why we are all here, isn’t it?” Deirta pointed out. “Our Queen’s most glorious Vow Renewal, I hear it will be quite the event and that you have had a lot to do with that.”

“Don’t gloat around family, Mother, it’s a tad gauche isn’t it?” Essek said with a pointed smile. “I have done only what my employer asked of me, and little else.” 

“The only thing that is gauche is being too humble,” Deirta said. “In this fast paced time, it is important to continue to uphold the good name of Theylss in this city, and the world, Essek. And you do that, and you are almost faultless in that regard. In fact, if the rest of the relatives could follow your example I dare say our influence would be felt all the way to Tal’dorei.” 

“I am sensing a but, Mother,” Essek said. 

“Oh no caveats, I’d rather not talk politics right now dear.”

“I’ll pretend like you're not the one who told me that everything is politics. Well then if the den’s influence in Tal’dorei isn’t on your mind, what would you like to talk about?” 

“I should like to know about the maiden who stole my boy’s heart, enough that he should see fit to mention her to me,” Deirta said with a light disingenuous laugh. 

“ _ Mother _ ,” Essek said warningly. Deirta looked unimpressed...in fact, she seemed charmed at Essek’s annoyance. 

“I am aware of your private nature, Essek, and I respect that.”

“Are you?” Essek asked sarcastically.

“I am. In fact, I think it’s a good thing to keep certain things private. You have never caused a mess that I have needed to clean up, a standard that not many of your siblings or cousins have met before you nor have they after. I do have certain expectations, but I also trust that you will choose a partner befitting of your station and of our family’s reputation.”

“And if I haven’t?” Essek asked. 

“You know the answer to that, Essek,” Deirta said. “I will do everything in my power to make you see reason and try to convince you of a partnership that will equally benefit you and your chosen mate.” 

“ _ Mate _ ,” Essek said, nose scrunching with distaste.

“I know, I know, call me old fashioned,” Deirta sighed. “You know, your brother brought his girlfriend with him tonight. You ought to have brought yours.” 

“We aren’t together like that,” Essek told her. 

“Oh?” Deirta asked, though she didn’t sound too surprised. 

“We’ve...hung out a fair bit, but only gone on one date. That night that you called me was our first one,” Essek informed her. 

“I’m sure we could have impressed her as your second outing.”

“Mother, I’m not sure that meeting the den is the best second date idea.” 

“But you expect the arrangement to continue, as it were?”

“I should hope so...it seems like it.” 

“Oh Essek, won’t you tell me something about her? You know I could just get on the phone and find out.” 

“Yes, but you won’t.”  _ If you know what’s good for you _ , is what Essek didn’t say but his mother surely heard. 

“You know that it is only because I worry for you,” Deirta said before stopping and smoothing the lapels of his already immaculate jacket. “Only the best for my boy.”

“Of course, Mother,” Essek promised, and his mother gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and seemed to dismiss him. Essek couldn’t help his sigh of relief as he turned around, and then suddenly realized that he had been deposited right in front of Verin and his girlfriend...who for the life of him he couldn’t remember what her name was. She was half-orc and wore her hair in braids and an understated but appropriate little black dress. However, despite her orcish features, she was relatively delicate in her frame...which led him to believe the other half was drow, though he wouldn’t ask her for fear of being rude. What was her name? Sanemi? Sa...something-or-other? 

“I see Mother’s done taking you for a walk,” Verin noted, raising his glass. 

“I suppose she’s waiting for me to demonstrate my knowledge of sitting and staying,” Essek said, taking the free seat with a sigh. 

“You remember Samezi?” Verin said, motioning to his girlfriend. 

“Hello,” Essek greeted as he inclined his head to her. 

“It’s been a bit,” Samezi said, lifting her glass to her lips and taking a sip. “Still up to the usual business then?”

“As always,” Essek said. “I tend to stay busy with my job being what it is...especially now. I imagine that you are also busy, aren’t you Verin?” 

“Oh come off it,” Verin said with a roll of his eyes. “My job is just as important as yours.” 

“Of course, of course,” Essek said idly. 

“But then again, not all of us get to have a hand in the Bright Queen’s Vow Renewal,” Samezi pointed out before leaning forward and looking extremely interested. “There has to be something that you can tell us.”

“What, so you can write about it in your paper?” Verin laughed. 

“I’m an investigative journalist,” Samezi scoffed before giving Essek a shrewd look. “Though of course my colleagues in the Culture section may like to hear a rumor or two...to drum up excitement and interest of course.” 

“All I can say is, that Leylas Kryn intends for this ceremony to not only demonstrate the Xhorhassian cultural boom, but to celebrate the influx of peoples and cultures that define our country on the world stage.” 

“What a perfectly formulated answer, almost exactly word for word from the XCI press release,” Samezi sighed, almost pouting but not quite. Essek wasn’t particularly moved, though he imagined that Verin was a sucker for it. 

“Actually, exactly word for word. I was the one who wrote it,” Essek reminded her. 

“...what exactly do you do for Leylas Kryn?” Verin asked, and Essek normally would be annoyed considering he had literally been working this job for five years and had probably explained this to Verin at least a dozen times before, but he was feeling charitable today and didn’t feel like embarrassing his brother in front of his girlfriend. He probably embarrassed himself in front of her enough without his help. 

“Anything that she requires of course,” Essek said simply. 

“Like a mob enforcer,” Verin said. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know, badge-boy?” 

“You really are the most insufferable person I know,” Verin scoffed. 

“I know,” Essek said smugly. “But you make it so much fun, you know?”

There was more that Verin seemingly wanted to say, when there was the sound of a bell ringing. Essek resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Could their Mother do anything without the artifice of drama? But of course she probably got off on asserting her power and dominance over all the relatives. Like beckoned dogs, conversations stuttered and they were all directed to the long and elaborate set up dinner table. Deirta sat at the head of the table, and everyone sat at their assigned seats...though there were no names everyone knew the order in which they were expected to sit. 

“Before we sit to eat, the prayer?” Deirta said as they all stood at their seats. Essek duck his head like he was expected to. “ Bless us, O Light, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy radiance, through the Luxon our Lord.” 

“Blessed be,” Essek murmured along with everyone else. At that point only after Deirta took her seat, were they permitted to sit alongside her. 

The dinner itself was the usual fair afforded to them. There were about six courses, soup, salad, appetizer, entree, dessert, cheese and fruit course, and then after dinner drinks. Essek managed about two bites of each, and resisted pushing food around on his plate like a teenager. There was just nothing appetizing to hearing a distant cousin talk for the fourth time about their job in the stock exchange, or an uncle complaining about things with a vaguely racist undertone. Really the act of dinner was a performance for everyone involved. They were all supposed to hem and haw at his mother’s beautiful silverware and ancient passed-down porcelain that probably belonged in a museum somewhere, and then admire a small four bite piece of fish with an inedible garnish that the caterer had made that was so in vogue right now. 

The food wasn’t even good, Essek thought frustratedly. It just looked pretty. What was the point of eating something that looked pretty if it wasn’t sumptuous? He thought of all the simple things that Caleb and his friends had prepared, all the delicious and heartfelt food that put this celebrity caterer to shame. He hadn’t thought himself a food snob before...but it appeared that he had become one with Caleb’s help. He wondered what Caleb would do at this stifling display, food besides the point. He had the sense that Caleb could be a social chameleon when he wanted to be, not unlike him really. Essek was sure Caleb would do well amongst the den of vipers and hold his own, if his family could even get past the fact that he was a human. 

If his family could get past the fact that Essek was gay. 

Now, to the credit of his society, gay relationships were normal. After all, Leylas and Quana were their spiritual leaders of the nation...and actual leaders in the most important arena which was the public consciousness. He wouldn’t even be the first Theylss kid to have a significant other of the same sex. But it was always _ who  _ you were dating that was the issue. Essek had never cared enough before to put any significant other through his family. As he watched the candles burn and fat globs of white wax drip to the antique candle holders...he wondered idly what the reaction to Caleb would be. 

Did he want that? Did he want Caleb to go through the scrutiny? Did Essek love Caleb enough to subject him to this? Or maybe it was the other way...maybe he was selfish enough to consider it. Would Caleb even like him...if he knew who Essek really was? He liked to pretend he was different...but at the end of the day would he just be a Theylss? Would he ruin everything he had with his intentions? 

Essek was sipping a dessert wine and idly checking his phone under the table, sneaking it like he was a teenager in school again. Really, he was mostly trying to distract himself from his spiralling thoughts. His mother shot him a few disapproving looks, but wouldn’t say anything unless someone else said something first. His mother was dependable like that, she never cared unless it would hurt her reputation. His phone buzzed in his hand, and it made him jump. 

Essek stared at his phone. Caleb? 

“Excuse me,” Essek said, shrugging off the looks and slipping into the hallway outside the dining room. No one really noticed him leaving, or if they did they didn’t care enough to stop him from going. After all they had just entered into the retell stories they had heard a thousand times part of the dinner, and Essek was scarcely involved enough in any of those stories to even be considered a background character they needed to call on. 

“Hello, Essek?” Caleb’s voice rang in his ear. 

“Hello?” Essek asked, confused albeit slightly delighted that Caleb was actually calling him and giving him such a clean out. 

“Are you busy at the moment?” 

The tone in Caleb’s voice took the delight right out of Essek’s mind. Essek prided himself on being able to read the mood in a room...growing up with the mother he did certainly made such a skill invaluable. It didn’t take a genius like him to figure out that Caleb sounded stressed. 

“What’s wrong?” Essek asked, ducking out into the sitting room away from prying eyes and listening ears. His back was against the wall, so that if anyone came around the corner he would be able to see them. There were plenty of things he needed, but the Theylss family inserting themselves into this situation somehow was not one of them. 

“Accident with the cake,” Caleb said. “A shelf broke and fell on it along with everything on the shelf, and basically completely smashed it. We’re going to have to remake the cake in a day.” 

“Is it possible?” Essek asked, calculating in his mind all the things that could go wrong. What would he have to do to make up for this? How could he make this situation work for his and everyone else’s advantage?

“It’s possible, we’re going to have to close the bakery and spend all night today, all day tomorrow, and maybe even the next night working on it. We hadn’t put on some of the most intricate designs so those are safe, but the flowers and the cake itself is ruined.” 

“I see,” Essek said, taking a deep breath. Okay, it was a rescue operation then. That was something Essek could certainly handle. 

"I wanted to call you first to ask...should we tell the Bright Queen?" 

"Under no circumstances. If we can fix it, it's better not to worry her," Essek said firmly before he surprised himself. "Are you in need of any extra hands?"

"Extra hands?"

"I offer my assistance of course," Essek clarified. 

"Yes, if you don't mind. We could definitely use some more help on this,” Caleb said, sounding relieved. “Danke-thank you, Essek. I can’t tell you how much that makes me feel better.”

“I’ve hardly done anything yet,” Essek said. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” 

“I’ll see you then.” 

Caleb hung up the phone and Essek immediately exited the room to where the rest of the family was seated. 

“Forgive me, but I’m going to have to leave,” Essek said, scooping up his jacket. “Work emergency.” 

“Really?” Deirta asked, eyebrows flying into her hairline. “Anything I should be concerned about?” 

“Not at all, Mother. As always, you know I can handle it,” Essek said, moving over to give her expectant turned cheek a kiss. “Have a wonderful evening, and I’ll see you all at the Vow Renewal.” 

Essek walked quickly out the door before anyone else could get a word in edgewise. He started up the car, and broke probably five different speed limits on his way to the bakery. When he arrived, the bakery seemed dark and quiet, but he had been told the back door was open. With a bit of hesitation, he opened the back door into complete chaos. 

“Essek!” Jester said, rushing to embrace him. Her smile was full of frosting and glitter...literally. She looked like she had gotten into an argument with powdered sugar and a tinsel. Her arms were soft and strong and wrapped around his middle like he was the person she had most wanted to see in this world, and Essek felt so oddly close to tears that he half wanted to run back out the door. “Oh Essek, I’m so glad you are here! Oh wow, you look so nice! I’m sorry I think I got stuff on your jacket.” 

“It is no problem,” Essek said, shucking off his jacket. He draped it over his arm with care...after all it was an expensive jacket. “I pay for dry-cleaning anyways.” 

“Is Essek here?” Caleb said, appearing from around the corner. He looked frazzled, utterly fried and blanched by stress. His hair was half-falling out of his bun, and his clothing was in general disarray...more than usual. “Essek…” 

“Give us a moment?” Essek asked Jester, who saluted and then skipped back to the back of the shop looking pleased with herself. “Thank you for calling me.” 

“I am very glad you are here,” Caleb said breathlessly, managing a fragile smile. 

“Of course, whatever you need,” Essek said, reaching out automatically and then his hand froze. Caleb didn’t move away, and so bolstering his courage he tucked a stray lock of copper hair behind Caleb’s ear. “Everything will be fine. We’ll get what we need to get done, done.” 

“I wish I had your confidence,” Caleb said before suddenly his face flushed as he seemingly took in Essek’s outfit. Oh. Well, Essek thought. It seems like his efforts would go appreciated. It was a rather unexpected but appreciated gift during the sudden stress. 

“I never disappoint my employer, I doubt this will be the first time it happens,” Essek said. “What’s the status with everything?” 

“We remade the cakes this morning. Yasha and Fjord were just pulling them out of the freezer now,” Caleb said as they walked behind the counter. “The sugar flowers were a total loss, so Nott, Jester, and Caduceus are working on that. Still need a fresh batch of the filling and we still have an extra batch of the frosting so we’re using that to start...though we’ll probably need to make another too.” 

“And the enchantments?”

“We had extra of the syrups we were using to soak into the cake that contained the main enchantment. We have stock of the illusion enchantment, but we’ll have to redo the custom starlight enchantment though,” Caleb said as they entered the chaotic workplace. It was the part of the bakery that Essek hadn’t yet seen. There were long work tables, walk-in fridges, large industrial ovens and stoves and sinks as well. The sinks were a catastrophe of pots and pans and Essek could see the attempts to clean out the fridge where the shelf had given way.

“This,” Essek said, pointing to the mess. He rolled up his sleeves as he assessed the disaster in front of him, formulating a plan of attack. “This I can handle, as well as any assistance you may need on the enchantment. Cleaning up this will help everything flow smoother and more efficient, as well as keep things sanitary.” 

“Essek I couldn’t-”

“You can and you did, you already asked,” Essek informed him as he put his foot down. 

“But you are wearing a suit that probably costs more than all of my clothes put together,” Caleb argued. 

“And I’ll buy a new suit and I’ll buy you one too while I’m at it,” Essek said shortly, as he placed his hands on his hips. “Go mitigate your own disaster, I’ve got this handled.” 

“Thank you,” Caleb said, full of gratitude. And for a moment Essek was sure Caleb was going to kiss him, but then Fjord’s yelp drew him away with another look. Essek surveyed the damage in front of him, just as something was thrown at his head and obscured his vision. Essek yanked the offending cloth off and realized he was holding an apron. 

“You might need that,” Beauregard pointed out. Essek looped it over his head and tied it securely to his waist, thankfully it was grey. Grey was a color that Essek could work with. 

“Now he looks like one of the team,” Jester said happily as she delicately rolled sugar into beautiful petals. 

“It suits you,” Caduceus said, walking by with a tray full of decorations and sparkles and jars of glittering orbs. 

“Where are the gloves?” Essek asked, yanking open the dishwasher which...thank all the gods in the merciful plains was empty. 

“Second drawer to the left!” Veth shouted back shrilly. Essek opened the drawer and found a pair of bright pink rubber gloves. It almost hurt him physically to put them on...but oh, the things he would do for love. Essek immediately set about separating out the hand-wash-only utensils from the machine-washables, after which he did a cursory soak to the hardest hit items bowls with dried-on batter or fillings or any other number of things that may occur during the baking process that was still a mystery to Essek. The rest of it was power-washed and then loaded up into the two industrial grade dishwashers efficiently. Even with both full and running, there was still a large amount of things to clean, though it was already much neater and more organized. Not knowing where things were supposed to be placed, and not willing to break the concentration of those who needed it to ask, he set about laying out the rest of the hand-washed things by category so it would be easy to find as they dried and then scrubbing down the counters that had been marred by the dirty dishes. 

Essek was just hand-drying some of the wooden spoons when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Caduceus standing in front of him with a tea-cup 

“Want to give this a try?” Caduceus asked Essek. Essek looked to see the table of decorators all holding their own cups, and a tea-set placed on the work-bench. 

“We are taking a fiver,” Beau answered the question that had just popped into Essek’s brain. 

“Oh,” Essek said, as Caduceus pressed a cup into his hands. “Thank you.” 

“Of course,” Caduceus said. “It’s important to take a deep breath and a minute, especially during creative pursuits.” 

“I haven’t done anything particularly creative,” Essek pointed out, looking upon the work table that was overflowing with beautiful white sugar roses, and beautiful dark purple sugar calla lilies, and silver hydrangeas. Yasha was admiring some of them and gave Essek a shy wave that Essek returned. 

“Come over here,” Jester said as she waved him over. Essek walked over and saw what Jester had been furiously working at. He nearly went breathless at the picture perfect miniature statues of both Leylas and Quana together. They were both dressed in the outfits that they would wear to the Vow Renewal, on Jester’s tome-pad was the references and pictures she had been given. The amount of detail that had gone into the recreation was stunning, from the diamond drops of the earrings Leylas would be wearing, to Quana’s wedding band on her tiny little finger. 

“Jester, this is absolutely beautiful,” Essek said, in awe. 

“I was working on it before everything went to shit so mini-L and mini-Q were safe from the Shelves of Doom,” Jester explained. “They are actually made of modeling chocolate, so they are completely edible.” 

“That’s incredible,” Essek said, continuing to look on with longing. He didn’t understand how a person discovered such a talent for art and gave it such an interesting application. 

“Thank you,” Jester said, nearly glowing with praise. Essek felt his mouth attempting to twist up into a smile...and he wondered if he was actually doing it right. Jester didn’t correct him, so he assumed he was doing it alright. It was then that he noticed that Caleb wasn’t in the kitchen proper, he was sitting by the door with Frumpkin nearly spilling out of his lap. 

The cake itself was on the stand, yet to be decorated besides a base of white frosting. It was sitting in the walk in fridge, which Fjord closed before accepting his own cup of tea from Caduceus. Essek felt a sense of relief, that at least the cake itself was done, though he knew the decorating would be just as tiring and time-consuming as the making. 

“Caleb?” Essek asked, walking over to where he was leaned against the wall. When Essek approached, Caleb immediately startled and then nearly fell off his stool. He looked around for a moment, like he had lost track of where he was, before his gaze settled on Essek. Frumpkin stood up and nudged his head beneath Caleb’s chin, purring so loudly that even Essek heard him. Caleb spent a moment or two stroking along Frumpkin’s flank. For a moment Caleb met Frumpkin’s eyes, and then with a pleased soft meow Frumpkin jumped down dutifully. He immediately trotted over to Essek and rubbed his body against his legs, his tail flicking with pleasure. Essek scooped up the cat, its wide eyes looking into Essek’s with a force that just Essek want to squeeze this cute little creature and never let it go. For a moment Essek stared at the cat before he came to a sudden realization.

“Your cat’s a familiar!” Essek said, feeling a bit betrayed. He settled Frumpkin down carefully, and then propped his hands on his hips. 

“Guilty as charged,” Caleb said apologetically. 

“And here I thought you liked me,” Essek said to the cat, who had sat and gave Essek a plaintive meow, like Frumpkin expected Essek to bend over backwards to pick him up again. 

“He does like you,” Caleb laughed. “He also perhaps did get some direction to be extra cute in your company.” 

“A scoundrel, just like his owner,” Essek said with a haughty sniff. Caleb got up from his stool stiffly and stretched, raising his arms above his head. His shirt came up with it, and Essek felt the burning need to look away. It was too late though. Happy trail. Caleb had a happy trail, and Essek was probably emitting a scream that only dogs could hear as his brains nearly boiled over. 

He had never thought like this in whole life, not even when he had been in mutually beneficial relationships. Essek had never felt the whip-crack of desire smack him across the face and do funny things to his heart before. Was this what normal people felt about strangers and celebrities and people they liked all the time? What a totally disconcerting sensation but more importantly...oh Gods, he needed to get laid. 

“We have some more work to get done tonight,” Caleb explained, forcing Essek to refocus. He hoped Caleb didn’t think he had been staring at him like he was a piece of meat. “I would like to at least get the buttercream frosting done so that way we can just focus on the decorating tomorrow.” 

“You’re going to want to see him do that,” Fjord said. “Caleb’s really good at that.”

“Don’t talk me up too much,” Caleb said as he grabbed the cup of tea that Caduceus had set down on the workbench for him. Essek finally took a sip of his own tea. It was a fragrant blend, blueberry and blackcurrant and elderberry came on the tongue first but with the steam came the smooth notes of bold black tea and the sweet floral notes of hibiscus and some kind of flower. 

“This tea is lovely,” Essek told Caduceus. 

“Thank you, I get most of the ingredients from my family back home,” Caduceus said. 

“Here,” Caleb said, sliding Essek a plate full of cookies that Veth and Fjord were skimping from in turn. “That should go nicely with that.” 

“Have you ever had a macaron, Essek?” Jester asked excitedly, motioning to a certain kind of cookie on the plate. When Essek shook his head, she smiled even broader. “You’ve got to try one.” 

Essek picked up the small cookie. It looked like a sandwich, and was much lighter than he had expected. He popped it into his mouth. The crust, if Essek could even call it a crust, shattered and melted away as if it had never existed to begin with. The cookie itself was soft and utterly toothsome with just a little bit of chew, while flavors of vanilla, almond, and pistachio perfectly melted together and leaving Essek sighing with pleasure. Essek looked up to see Jester looking at him intently from where she was basically laying on the table. 

“Essek, did you realize that you are _ pretty _ sexy when you eat?” Jester asked very seriously. 

“What does that even mean?” Essek asked, feeling his ear twitch with annoyance. 

“Oh nothing man, you look like you are really enjoying putting that in your mouth,” Beau snickered. 

“I don’t appreciate that innuendo,” Essek said with a roll of his eyes. He did his absolute best to sneak a glimpse at Caleb, who had half-sunk into the seat he was in and was looking very flushed. Weirdly, Essek wanted to shake Jester’s hand for this unexpected gift. Well then. He grabbed another cookie. This one was much plainer and Essek took a bite. Who knew that a shortbread cookie could become a revelation. It was light, buttery and crumbling and deceptively simple enough that it made Essek wonder if even he could make something like that. But also dipped into Caduceus’s tea? A perfect match, Essek could imagine eating these cookies every day for the rest of his life. “This might be up there with the Radler cupcake, Caleb.”

“I could add lemon zest to them,” Caleb offered. 

“Don’t you dare,” Essek warned. “I’ll force you to make them all the time.” 

“I wouldn’t mind, if it made you happy,” Caleb said with a shy smile. Essek caught his smile and met it with a smile of his own...an actual smile, that felt a little strange blossoming on his face. He wasn’t sure he had the muscles developed to actually smile genuinely, but if Caleb kept looking at him like he had just hung the moon from the sky he was sure he would get into practice. 

“You two are flirting again,” Beauregard groaned. Fjord flicked some crumbs at Beau, and her annoyance immediately evaporated and she flicked it back. Essek realized that she was most likely joking. 

“They are cute,” Yasha said, chiding Beau with a soft almost-smile that looked somewhat bittersweet. 

“I’m not cute, I’m devastatingly attractive,” Essek noted. 

“Do you always have to be patronizing?” Beau asked. 

“Yes, I do,” Essek said with a smug smile. 

“I’m going to do some frosting,” Caleb said, patting Essek’s shoulder. He didn’t move closer to kiss him or hug him...as much as he might have liked that in theory, Essek wasn’t sure yet how he felt about overt displays of affection. But Essek did catch his fingers for just a moment, and met Caleb’s gaze. He felt it warm him all the way from the tips of his ears to his toes, settling comfortably in his belly like the cookies and the warm tea. 

“Alright, back to work folks!” Veth said, clapping her hands. 

“I’ll help you put away the utensils,” Fjord offered to Essek. “I’ll show you where everything goes.” 

“Ah, thank you,” Essek said as he went to join Fjord. He opened the drawers and cabinets and demonstrated where everything went and in what order, and Essek did his best to commit those things to memory. Not that he assumed he would ever have to help in the back of the bakery ever again, but it was always good to be prepared for the unexpected. Essek quite liked organizing anyways, it was the reason that all of his clothing was organized by color in his closet. He spent a while doing that, before going over to help Yasha and Beauregard clean up the floors and counters. He got the sense that the frantic energy of the hours before was winding down, and the Mighty Nein seems to feel relieved that they would make it for the Vow Renewal. Essek had just finished when he looked over at what Caleb was up to. 

He was _ spinning  _ the cake, which was terrifying to Essek but apparently no one else found it unusual. With practiced flicks of wrists and inhumanly steady hands, ivory buttercream became drapes and flowers and embellishments. All of them perfectly spaced apart and nearly sewed together with militaristic accuracy. The similarity between this and the precarious act of copying spells into a spellbook was almost eerie. He was on the second tier of the cake out of the tower of six, and then just as easily transitioned up to the third tier. 

“Caleb’s in the zone right now,” Fjord translated, and Essek realized that most of the others were gathering their bags. They all looked absolutely exhausted, and Essek checked his watch. Two in the morning...he was used to being awake at odd hours, after all, he only needed to trance for four hours a day. But for all of them? This must be torture. “I hate to ask, but Veth called Yeza and he’s going to help me get everyone home. I know Caleb will refuse until he’s done so do you think…?”

“I’ll get Caleb home, don’t worry,” Essek promised. Fjord gave Essek a clap on the shoulder and a grateful smile, before herding the obviously extremely sleepy Mighty Nein out the door, sans Caleb. Essek perched himself on a stool and watched Caleb work, steady and sure for at least another hour. Essek committed to memorizing the way his wrists flicked and his hands moved and the delicious profile he cut, and though he really should have felt bad ogling at Caleb like that he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. Caleb finished up the third tier of the basic frosting decorations before pulling back and taking stock of his work. It was at that time, he looked around and realized that they were alone. 

“Oh…” Caleb said, obviously putting things together. 

“Put the cake away, I’ll get you home now,” Essek said, not necessarily an order but not  _ not  _ an order either. “You’ll do well with fresh eyes tomorrow.”

“I don’t know if I can get it done,” Caleb said, voice weighted with stress. “Sheisse, this is such a big opportunity and-” 

“You’ll get it done,” Essek said calmly. “I have absolute faith in your ability.” 

“I wish I could be as certain as you, my friend,” Caleb said with a fragile smile that filled Essek’s heart up with sweetness he never thought he could feel. Gods, he loved him. 

“Essek Theylss never fails, it’s my personal policy,” Essek said firmly. “Now come along.” 

Essek helped Caleb wheel the cake into the walk-in freezer, pointedly away from the remaining shelves. Essek waited as Caleb locked up his shop and started his car, making sure the heat was on and the car warmed up for Caleb as he slid into the passenger seat. He was carrying Frumpkin, who was now curled up in his lap and probably getting cat fur all over Essek’s car...did familiars shed? Essek, strangely, found he didn’t care as he watched Caleb so tenderly stroking his familiar back to soothe them both. 

“We’ll still have to close the bakery tomorrow most likely,” Caleb said, expression dark with worry. “We didn’t do any of our usual preparations and we don’t have any stock...it’s not that sort of business.”

“If you have a daily profit average, I can see your business is compensated,” Essek offered as he put the car in drive. 

“No, no. It’s not necessary. One day does not a failed business make,” Caleb said as he ran his fingers through his hair, and then pulled his hair out of the tie and began to redo it. “I don’t think I really and truly expressed...how much you being here means to me.” 

“I have to admit, I imagined our second date going a bit differently,” Essek jokes, pulling out of the parking lot. 

“Ah…” Caleb said, sounding lost for words. 

“I’m sorry,” Essek apologized, feeling the prick of panic at the back of his neck. He turned left, and calculated how long this would take. Only five minutes, it seemed so minute...just five minutes with Caleb when Essek wanted to fill his time with Caleb unabashedly. Though he supposed he was grateful for the opportunity afforded to him...and he shouldn’t ask for more. He couldn’t get too greedy after all, he didn’t even know what Caleb wanted. Almost-boyfriend or not, that was really the issue here. It was something he felt he couldn’t breach...he couldn’t pick it without bruising it. What if he went too fast and ruined it completely? His worries caught in his throat and stayed there, slowly screaming away. 

“No, no,” Caleb said with a weak laugh. “I was about to agree with you...but let me just say? I’m grateful for it. I...” 

“Your job is important to you,” Essek said, trying to focus on what he could actually work with and salvage in this situation. “And I respect that, I hope you know that. I want you and your friends to succeed.” 

“...I hope you understand that I appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” Caleb said, voice deep with feeling. 

“I hope you understand that I’m certainly not a white knight,” Essek laughed bitterly. “I’m just a little bit selfish is all.” 

“Selfish?”

“I want you to be happy,” Essek admitted, the admission feeling oddly intimate. He cautiously glanced at Caleb, only to see him smiling at him in return. “Regardless of anything else. I...I want you to feel like you are able to rely on me, just a little bit. I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous about how you are with your friends...so it makes me happy for you to depend on me and that you called me to help you. Even with circumstances being what they are...I was happy. I am sorry it came at your expense however...”

_ I would do just about anything as long as I got to spend time with you _ , Essek didn’t say. He would wear stupid pink rubber gloves and clean a kitchen and go to the gym and do things outside of eat, sleep and work, and weirdly enjoy all of it. He felt useful and appreciated, and just that was enough to satisfy him when he had never been satisfied with anything before in his whole life. That was the magic of love, he supposed. It made even the most boring and normal things into something significant. 

“I’m not as perfect as you seem to think I am,” Caleb admitted suddenly. “As you can see...I’m obsessive. I get anxious and I just escalate situations that don’t need to be escalated because I can’t let things go.” 

“Ha, you are talking to the king of obsessive behavior over here,” Essek snorted very unattractively. He was horrified with himself but Caleb didn’t seem to mind, in fact he looked at Essek clearly...like he was really seeing him. How did he just do that? No one else had ever seen him and liked him before in his whole life, and yet Caleb acted like knowing Essek was as easy as breathing. 

“I should have just called you just to update you but...I wanted to see you too,” Caleb admitted with a wry grin. “You have no idea how happy it made me...for you to be there. I hope we can have something less dramatic...for our third date.” 

“Oh,” Essek said dumbly, mostly because he felt like his brain was now operating at 25% capacity. The rest of it was screaming at him to pull the car over and just kiss this man silly. Thankfully he didn’t need to drive much further because he was just pulling into Caleb’s driveway and not putting them in any danger for a car accident. 

“Unless you are opposed?” Caleb asked cautiously, propping open the door so Frumpkin could hop out. And yet, Caleb made no move to leave. 

“No!” Essek said forcefully. “No, I mean yes, a third date. Yes. I want to have a third date.” 

“Do you have any ideas?” Caleb asked. “Something that you want to do, since our second date was for my benefit mostly.” 

“There  _ is _ an event coming up,” Essek said slyly. “How would you like to be my date?” 

“I would be honored,” Caleb said looking at Essek for a moment before leaning over the seat. Essek met him with momentum, and _ finally _ they kissed again. Caleb’s lips earnest and gentle, and Essek nearly sighed with comfort against him. Essek felt more real than he had ever had in his whole life, grounded instead of just floating through. How odd it was, to become a protagonist in your own life. How strange, that everything could feel new with a kiss. Unfortunately, his lungs were his own enemy. He pulled away to catch his breath, and to his surprise Caleb pressed another kiss to Essek’s forehead. “Thank you, Essek. Guten nacht.” 

“...good night,” Essek said when he remembered how to speak. Caleb slipped out of his car and went into the house. Essek’s face was burning, his forehead was suddenly the epicenter of his heartbeat. Essek pressed his hand to his mouth, to cover his own smile but then decided against it. 

If the stars saw him be happy, what should he care?


	6. Cut To The Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He still looked devastatingly attractive in every possible way and it wasn’t fair because he looked like he had just rolled out of the bed. Essek needed at least an hour in the morning to talk himself into being even vaguely pleasant.
> 
> “Oh! Guten Morgen, and welcome back to the Xhorhaus Bakery,” Caleb said, a certain pleasant crinkle to his expression. He was smiling a soft, gentle smile that caught Essek off guard. “What can I get you this morning?”
> 
> At Xhorhaus Bakery, where the Mighty Nein bake up Rosohna's most delectable treats, magic is something that is in the air. For Essek Theylss, there might just be love there too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we come to the end! This chapter is a bit shorter, most due to being a wrap up chapter and a proper ending. And we're getting Critical Role tomorrow!!!!! It's an exciting time for everyone really. I would just like to say, thank you to every single person who reviewed and supported this fic. Just know that I love you all, and hope that your next bite of dessert is as sweet as how you've all been to me and I'm happy to have been a source of something light and cute in a strange time. <3
> 
> Recommended listening: Cut To The Feeling by Carly Rae Jepsen  
>  _Ah, I wanna cut through the clouds, break the ceiling  
>  I wanna dance on the roof, you and me alone  
> I wanna cut to the feeling, oh yeah  
> I wanna cut to the feeling, oh yeah  
> I wanna play where you play with the angels  
> I wanna wake up with you all in tangles, oh  
> I wanna cut to the feeling, oh yeah  
> I wanna cut to the feeling, oh yeah_

It was the morning of the ceremony, and Essek was stressed. Of course there wasn’t much in the world that was more stressful then having an event with Leylas Kryn herself. She demanded as close to perfection that every person could understandably achieve and then some, that was just her style. Essek respected that of course, she was still the most powerful woman in Xhorhas for that very reason. But it didn’t make any of this very enjoyable. In fact, Essek was counting down the minutes until it would be socially acceptable to throw back at least two shots of something hard that burned all the way to his belly. 

And also when he might steal a kiss from a certain Zemnian wizard, but that was neither here nor there. 

“Who do I need to kill?” Nedna demanded hotly as she grabbed at her phone and tapped at her screen impatiently as if that would make whatever message she was hoping to come through come faster. “The flowers were supposed to be delivered a half-an-hour ago for the wedding party.” 

“Oh please,” Essek scoffed as he tapped on the screen of his tome-pad and showed her the delivery app from his account. On the screen it showed the location of the delivery just one street over from the venue itself, before he minimized it. “As if you have the stomach for murder. Leave that up to the professionals.” 

Nedna scoffed but seemed content to pout and not whine. Essek was thankful, because he hated when people whined at him. It was part of the reason why he was so good at solving problems. Essek sighed as his shoe tapped a rhythm, the only one that he could think of at the moment was Sweet Caroline, which made Essek think of Caleb and the Mighty Nein and he knew he couldn’t have been thinking about them but- 

“What are  _ you _ nervous about?” Nedna asked breaking his concentration and causing him to lose the beat.

“What do you mean?” Essek asked, incredulously. 

“You’re fidgeting,” Nedna pointed out. “You don’t fidget. You don’t get nervous.” 

“Contrary to popular belief, I do have emotions,” Essek said with a roll of his eyes as he checked his phone for what must have been the thousandth time that day, discreetly he hoped. “In fact, I’m waiting to hear from my date.” 

“Your date?” Nedna asked, eyebrows raised and jaw slack with surprise. 

“Am I not allowed to have one?” Essek inquired haughtily, turning up his nose at her like the blue-blood he was. 

“You didn’t add anyone to the list,” Nedna said, now sitting up at attention. Essek could see her calculating it out in her head and coming up with the wrong answers, so he figured it would be prudent to nip this in the bud before she could go blather on to the Kryns...or Luxon forbid his mother. 

“I don’t need to add someone to the list if they are already on the list, correct?” Essek scoffed impatiently. “Or did I need to put an asterisk and highlight it in red to signify the importance to my love life?” 

“Do you always have to be patronizing?” 

“When people ask me stupid questions? Yes, I do.” 

“Luxon help whoever is in a relationship with you,” Nedna said with a snort. 

“Well, it certainly helps that I actually enjoy their company and they enjoy mine. That’s the way functional relationships work, you ought to try it sometime,” Essek said as finally he got a message from Jester. It read, after a disgusting amount of emojis, that they had finished the cake and were in the process of getting it ready for transport. It would be at the reception on time. Essek could help the sigh of relief that escaped from the gridlock of his teeth. 

“Ha ha, funny,” Nedna said irritated, bringing him unceremoniously back to reality. Essek was about to open his mouth and tell Nedna where she could put her attitude and her cheap looking pumps that she probably wasted a fortune on, when the door opened. Waccoh looked in and gave them both a pinched look of annoyance. 

“It’s time,” a junior assistant said, “Leylas said she needs you two.” 

Essek immediately stood up and dawned his coat once again. In the mirror he quickly checked his tie and was out the door with Nedna on his heels. They got to the room where Leylas was sitting with her bridal party. She was dressed in her wedding finery. The bodice of the extravagant gown was designed to catch the light and glitter as if plated by the stars themselves before draping into beautiful gauzy layers that shimmered as she stood. She wore a beautiful crown encrusted with crystals and designed in geometric shapes that were reminiscent of shards of glass or frosted ice, as her designer fixed the veil. 

“Quana asked for it,” Leylas said, looking a bit thoughtful as her fingers slid along the material of the veil. “I told her that I was much too old for it...but I suppose she was feeling nostalgic.” 

“You look beautiful,” Essek said simply, finding enough breath in his lungs to give her a coherent answer. Leylas was beautiful the way nature was beautiful, totally overwhelming in its majesty and power. Even someone like him could only hope to appreciate it. 

“Thank you,” Leylas said. “Tell me, is everything on time?” 

“The guests are being directed to their proper seats in the cathedral as we speak,” Nedna said, opening up her tome-pad and showing Leylas the livestream of the event. “I was told Quana’s party arrived and are now waiting in the upper floors for the signals. I finally got confirmation that the flowers have arrived and Quana’s party has received them. They will be given to you all before your appearance.” 

“Perfect, and the reception preparations?” 

“All a go, the cake will be delivered, the band is already there and is doing warm ups, and the corrections to the decorations you wished for have been taken care of,” Essek reported. 

“Good, then there is no need to delay,” she said looking to the bridal party gathered in the room. Her makeup artist and designer joined Essek and Nedna as her bridal party exited the room following Leylas like she was the sun and the rest of them were the planets in her orbit. 

“I can’t believe you always work with her,” her designer said, looking slightly faint. Essek realized he was looking at him and Nedna as he made that statement. He was a well dressed half-orc, an up and coming designer who had won Leylas’ attention with his design proposal. Essek could understand why this was intimidating for him, after all, his life was probably going to change after today. He was going to become a household name in Xhorhas. “She’s so intimidating.”

“She has high standards,” Essek said with a shrug. “There is no problem unless you meet them. In that way, she is a very fair boss.” 

“Essek’s the only person in the history of the entire world who has never let down the Kryns,” the makeup artist said with a shrug. “And I can say that because I’ve been doing Leylas’ makeup for the past five years and I know that for a fact.” 

“It’s because I also have extremely high standards for myself,” Essek said, motioning them to follow. “I’m very rarely satisfied with things as they are. That’s what it takes to work for the Kryns.” 

“And also the lack of a social life,” Nedna said. 

“I have more of a social life then you thought I did even an hour ago. That’s another thing, never be too boring. Leylas likes people that surprise her...in the good subtle way. She doesn’t like real surprises, she’s very particular about that,” Essek said as they waited for the Kryn party to get into their limousine. Their own car was pulling up after, and Essek opened the door and allowed the others to get in first. “Has anyone heard from Waccoh about the broadcast by the way? Is that working according to plan? It won’t glitch out or anything right?”

“As far as we can tell,” Nedna said. 

“Good, then there’s nothing to do but stay the course,” Essek said, catching a glimpse of his cellphone.

_ Good luck with everything today, I’m thinking about you.  _

Essek smiled, even just imagining Caleb’s voice could do that to him. That was a simply marvelous thing. 

_ Same to you.  _ Essek responded before slipping his phone in his pocket and preparing for the battle ahead. 

* * *

The ceremony hall was dark, except for the lights that showed around the altar and illuminated the clerics of the Luxon and the royal couple. Essek watched, with breath caught in his lungs at the wonder of it all. As Quana pressed a kiss to Leylas’ lips with the promise of forever dancing over her tongue, Essek wondered what that might be like…wondered at what the taste of their love was like. Even after all this time, was it still the same? 

Based on the way Leylas’ tears shimmered, Essek thought it just might be the case.  __

* * *

The reception was being held at the Lucid Bastion itself, the castle where the nobility once lived. It was a grand affair, and as such everything was washed with the white and silver of the wedding colors. Guests were handed their goodie bags upon arrival and milled about at the cocktail bars as wait staff in crisp white shirts handed them drinks named ridiculous things like  _ White Blossom _ , or  _ Mint Twilights _ . Essek confirmed with the staff that everything was going smoothly, and spoke to a few guests to assure their time was going well before he went to mind other equally important business. 

Essek moved into the reception area, and that was when he saw the cake in full glory. It was of course different then Essek had seen since it before. It was six hexagonal tiers tall, with each tier having a separate intricate design. Flowers fell in c ascading tiers of frothy, silk organza ruffled and powdery with delicate blooms. Smattering of embellishments and the catching of edible crystal shards in hidden spots, delicate marzipan birds, and other gems that left something for the eye to catch at every sweep of it’s magnificent form. This all followed the brush of silver that perfectly drew the gaze to each new pleasure accordingly. At the top was the sculpture of both Leylas and Quana looking much and love and very weirdly adorable in their tiny form courtesy of Jester Lavorre. 

“Essek,” Caleb called with a small wave, and Essek tore his eyes away to see him. They were all dressed in tan slacks and white chef’s shirts with the Xhorhaus emblem on the side. It was a good choice for the formal affair, and the light colors really brought out the color of Caleb’s blue eyes. 

“Oh Caleb, it’s beautiful,” Essek told him somewhat breathlessly as Caleb crossed the room. 

“Just wait until they dim the lights for the first dance,” Caleb said proudly. “That’s when the really fun bits start.” 

“Are you talking about funny bits with Essek,” Jester asked as she settled down a tray of desserts for the dessert spread. There were slices of pies with jewel-colored fruit fillings, cookies and macarons in pastels, jellies and puddings and parfaits in glasses, their famous cupcakes with their swirls and sprinkles and glammed up with shimmer-dust. Yasha was placing decorative flowers and vases that had been handed off to her artfully between the display of treats in the most delicate and thoughtful fashion. By each dessert platter there was a little holder of cards, embellished with Xhorhaus Bakery very professionally upon the laminate that Veth was triple checking and double checking before seeming satisfied. 

Essek picked up one of the cards, and smiled. 

“We got those done last week,” Beauregard said as she wheeled out another tray with more desserts. 

“Good for you all,” Essek told them, very pleased as he slid one of the cards into his wallet. Who knew when he was going to need to give it out. “I am so very happy for you, truly.” 

“Do you think the boss will like it?” Fjord asked nervously as Caduceus placed a hand on his shoulder. Essek could understand the nerves, after all the camera crews and the guests would be coming in soon enough. If Essek had learned anything about life from working where he did, it was that any event with Leylas Kryn was bound to be overwhelming in more ways than one. 

“I can say from knowing Leylas Kryn as well as I do, that she’ll be extremely pleased,” Essek promised them all. “This is exactly what she asked for and far more, you have all completely outdone yourselves.”

“Thank you so much, for the opportunity,” Caleb said, reaching to clasp Essek’s hand. 

“No thanks required, you have already done more than enough,” Essek promised them all. Essek was about to say more when Nedna came over, holding her tome-pad. 

“The guests are set to arrive in ten minutes, after which there will be the dinner. At the end of the dinner you will be signalled to begin serving the desserts,” Nedna said without lifting her gaze to even look at them. Essek couldn’t help but bristle. He really couldn’t believe her rudeness...but at the same time he also couldn’t blame her. He would like to think he would always look into the eyes of those who were working with him, that was part of the reason he was successful. Essek did wonder if there had ever been a moment where he had been so nonchalant and found himself glad to be changed even in such a small insignificant way. “As requested the lights will be dimmed as you do so to help emphasize the enchantments on the cake and-oh! Here’s the photographer.” 

Nedna motioned over the photographer who had an expensive looking camera hanging by his neck. 

“I’d like to get a few shots of the cake as well as all of you before everyone comes in,” the photographer said, holding up his camera. 

“Of course,” Caleb said. “Would you like us to be out of the picture at first?” 

The photographer took a few shots of the cake from different angles. Jester did her best to both art direct and distract to Essek’s enjoyment and Nedna’s chagrin. After that, the photographer showed Nedna the photos as well as the Mighty Nein and Essek. Though Essek was sure that a photo couldn’t really capture the beauty of the cake, it was a well composed shot. With Essek’s final nod, the photographer gave a sigh of relief. They all knew this all would, of course, be shown to Leylas before it made it anywhere near the press release. But Essek had always had a good eye for what his employer would like. 

“It looks good,” the photographer said before looking back at the Mighty Nein. “If you guys would like, you should get into the next picture. We can figure out a caption and include it in the media press release as well.” 

“You have to make sure to get my good side,” Veth said, striking a pose, causing Beauregard to give her a playful push. 

“I’m fairly certain that’s his job,” Fjord pointed out with a fond exasperated shake of his head. “Where would you like us?” 

The photographer arranged them so that Yasha, Beauregard, Jester, and Caleb were on one side while Nott, Fjord, and Caduceus were on the other. They were about to take the picture when Jester began waving at Essek. As he was in the midst of this, Essek could see a few of the early arrivals filtering into the room. 

“Come on, Essek! Join us!” Jester said, moving over to the other side and wildly gesticulating at the place where she had been next to Caleb. 

“I’m not sure that’s appropriate,” Essek began to say as Jester placed her hands on her hips and gave him a chiding look. 

“Oh come on, Essek! You helped us so much with the cake!” Jester said. 

“You are one of the team,” Beauregard said with a smile and a shrug. 

“You are basically part of the Mighty Nein just through association,” Veth said. 

“You helped them with the cake?” Nedna asked with a scoff and with a smirk. “ _ You _ ? What? Was it running late?” 

“Yes, I helped my  _ boyfriend _ with the cake his business made,” Essek snapped at Nedna as he marched himself over to where the Mighty Nein was standing in front of the cake and took his place besides Caleb. “Bite me, Nedna.” 

Nedna couldn’t have looked more shocked then if Essek had slapped her right in her face. Essek took serious enjoyment from watching her gap like a fish as he stood proudly next to Caleb, who placed his arm around his shoulders and smiled brilliantly at him. The photographer took a few pictures, before calling Essek forward.  Essek looked at the picture appraisingly. Everyone in the Mighty Nein was looking proud, though, they would have to pick a picture where Caleb wasn’t looking at him. Though it was sweet, he didn’t think that Leylas would particularly want that picture in her press release. 

“Very good,” Essek said. “You’ll want to send either the fourth or the fifth picture to Leylas. Could I give you my details to send the first picture to me? I would love to have it. I’ll be happy to pay for the picture as well.” 

“Of course, I would be happy-” 

“ _ Essek _ .” 

Essek took a deep breath, channeling the void and smiling his greatest work-mode-activated smile as he turned to face his mother and his very apologetic looking brother who looked like this train wreck was the absolute last thing that he wanted to be dealing with at this exact moment. His mother, dressed in a chic black dress with stilettos that probably could kill a man, tapped out an impatient rhythm as Essek stood before her...as if he were wasting her time merely by existing. Nedna was looking excited to witness the epic scolding that Essek was probably in store for. 

“Hello, Mother,” Essek said with his sweetest and most obliging smile. “How are you enjoying the Vow Renewal so far?”

“I see there is someone you haven’t introduced me to yet? Hm?” Deirta said, her voice eerily calm...the way stepping on a lake two degrees from splintering and sending you down to the depths where you would probably become an Essek-popsicle. 

“Ah! Deirta, there you are!” A voice suddenly cut the tension like a knife. It was Quana, dressed in her gorgeous white suit that had both Beauregard and Yasha choking at the sight. Even as someone who didn’t find women attractive beyond just aesthetics, Quana really packed a punch that had even Essek momentarily questioning himself (though the desire to actually see Quana naked was nonexistent). Deirta, unable to refuse the hug from Quana was helpless but to accept it and the friendly joyful kiss on the cheek. “I haven’t seen you yet all day, how did you like the Vow Renewal Ceremony?”

“Of course it was beautiful, just to be expected but-”

“And Essek, absolutely wonderful job with everything. Really Deirta, you ought to be so proud of your son. He is just a shining example of what the Xhorhassian Institute is capable of,” Quana said with a knowing glint to her eyes. “And Caleb, it's so wonderful to see you again. The cake looks absolutely stunning, I know I speak for both me and my wife when I say I can’t wait for the grand finale. Really Essek, your  _ boyfriend _ is so talented! You’ll absolutely be the talk of Rosohna with this. In fact, I’ve already heard the ambassador to Marquet’s wife asking about a cake!”

“Ah, ja, thank you so much Mrs. Kryn. I can’t explain how much that means to us,” Caleb said, putting an arm around Essek’s waist. Essek tried to act natural and not like he was two breaths away from passing out from the prolonged exposure to Caleb’s body. “And yes, I did speak to the ambassador’s wife. I am glad she has expressed such interest, and I would be happy to speak to her.” 

“You know, Deirta, she’s the one planning on helping out with the trade deal. She’ll be beyond herself with joy to know that he’s Essek’s boyfriend, especially if that means she gets ahead in the lines of people already lined up.” 

“Oh, really?” Deirta asked, sounding absolutely tickled pink by this new and very profitable connection that she had suddenly made. “Do you think you would be able to introduce me?” 

“Oh it would be my pleasure,” Quana said, holding out her arm to Deirta who took it. “Just don’t tell my wife, she may get jealous.” 

“Oh you two never change,” Deirta said with a joking swat before looking over at Essek and Caleb. “It was lovely to meet you Caleb. We’ll have to do family brunch some time, when things settle down a bit.” 

“Of course,” Caleb said with a very understanding nod, and like that Deirta flounced off to terrorize someone else, Nedna skulked off having not been given the show she clearly had scripted in her own head. This left Verin behind with them. He had watched all of this unfold before him quietly, but just as Essek began to worry about his reaction he gave Essek a weak smile as he approached them. 

“Sorry,” Verin said, sounding like he was apologizing for more than just this interaction. “Though...it will be nice for mother to worry herself about another relationship...besides mine of course.” 

“Oh please she won’t be worried about my relationship, we both know which one of us has the better judgement,” Essek said, smiling up at Caleb and meeting his loving gaze. “Don’t be jealous.” 

“You are a brave man, Mr. Widogast,” Verin said with a roll of his side. “If I had to take Essek’s shit on a regular basis, I would have flung myself out of the nearest window years ago.” 

“I am a very lucky man,” Caleb said, pressing a kiss to Essek’s temple that had Essek smiling like a dopey love sick fool. Essek shook out of it and gave his chest an appreciative pat. “It is nice to meet you though.”

“Likewise. We’ll have to talk some other time, when things aren’t so busy.” 

“Thank you, Verin,” Essek told him honestly, reaching and grabbing his arm and looking him in the eye. Verin was momentarily startled, clearly, since Essek couldn’t recall a moment when he had initiated contact like this with his brother. “Really.” 

“Hey now, don’t get sappy on me,” Verin told him, reaching out, giving Essek a short but heartfelt hug, before pulling away and smiling at him. “We’re Theylss kids, it’s what we do. Besides, we still need to survive the evening.” 

With a final parting wave, he made his way to the table where he was assigned and joined his girlfriend. Essek watched him go, and made sure to make a mental note to buy him something nice for his birthday for a change. He didn’t think that a card and a check was going to cut it this year, all things considered. 

“You guys are official!” Veth screeched, rushing them and sounding breathless. “When? How? What?”

“Congratulations,” Caduceus said, smiling a wide and warm smile. 

“Oh it was super obvious that they were,” Jester said waving at Veth. “It’s not like we didn’t see them smooching the other day.” 

“Smooching is one thing, being together is another!” Veth argued. Essek attempted to grapple with that new information. It had to have been when Essek had dropped Caleb off after that stressful night of desperation baking. Essek felt his ears warm through with the realization that they had had an audience. 

“Well congrats on finally seeing what’s been written all over your faces for like months now,” Beauregard said, giving Caleb an appreciative slap on the back. Caleb gave her a smile that they shared as he reached out and gave her hair a teasing ruffle. 

“It is a wonderful thing,” Yasha said, quietly...softly, and with a sweet small personal smile. 

“I’m happy for you two,” Fjord promised. “It is a wonderful thing, Yasha is right.” 

“Thank you all,” Caleb said, with a glisten to his eyes which couldn’t have just been the light. “But before we really celebrate, we’ve got to make sure this goes off without a hitch.” 

“Caleb is right in that respect,” Fjord said. “Everyone, man your battle stations. We’ve got work to do.” 

“Aye, aye captain!” The rest of the Mighty Nein said with a mock salute. 

“I wish you all the best of luck,” Essek said before pressing up on his toes and giving Caleb the shortest and softest kiss he had ever given in his whole life. “You’ll be brilliant.”

“I wish I had your confidence,” Caleb said, eyes butter-soft blue. 

“I don’t have to be confident. I just know,” Essek said. “I’ll see you all after the fact.” 

With that and a parting wave, Essek made it over to his assigned seat. It was off to the side of the Kryn’s, just in case they were going to need anything. Photographers and videographers were stationed then, and Quana had disappeared to the back. It was then when the guests had finally filtered into their seats when the announcer announced Leylas and Quana, who appeared to a raucous applause from everyone. Leylas had changed her dress to something more form fitting, but made almost completely out of shimmering jewels that fractured light as she moved with Quana to the head of the table. 

Dinner itself was of a bespoke design, small little dishes of designer appeal that were meant to be consumed in a bite or two before the next round appeared. Essek tasted no flavor, but ate only to bide his time and to look busy. Essek tried not to keep catching Caleb’s gaze from across the room, but it seemed like Caleb himself was an opposite charge pulling Essek’s eyes forward. Eventually though, glasses were refilled with an expensive wine and the lights were dimmed. 

“We hope that our next dish surprises and delights from the Xhorhaus Bakery in Rosohna,” the announcer said. 

Caleb moved his hand in a somatic gesture with the cake knife. With a final flick of his fingers, it was almost like sparks caught dry brush. A glimmer filled the air, like the soft light of dappled trees in autumn, or the filling pool of a hearth, or a cascade of light coming in from a cave mouth. Sugar flowers opened up like they were craning for the sun, light caught in the crystals and scattered them out, marzipan birds nestled between roots flew before settling on other lays, and most impressively those same firefly sparks that moved about the room settled on the candles at every table and lit them with a warm glow. 

When the glow settled into a pleasant mirage, heat casting illusions from a dancing candle flame, there was a mighty clap of applause. Essek could help his smile as all of the Mighty Nein took a short bow before the lights were turned up just a smidge and they began to hand out slices of cakes and other desserts along with the other servers. 

“I hope you enjoy,” Caleb said, settling down a slice for both Quana and Leylas. Leylas said something to Caleb that made him smile, but it was soft enough that Essek couldn’t parse it out. Then he came over to Essek’s table with the rest of the planning team, settling down a piece for every and then pausing in front of Essek. “Let me know how you like it.” 

Essek didn’t wait before taking a bite. 

The cake itself was tender and its crumbs disappeared in the mouth with the heady taste of brown sugar and almond and vanilla, then cut through with a deep tart black currant syrup that was soaked into the bottom cake while immediately lightened by layer of soft plum jam that fluttered against the mouth like moth wings. And then of course there was the vanilla frosting that was so light and smooth and heavenly that Essek wondered if that was what eating a cloud would be like. As he ate, he was warmed through, bundled up by a fire and held against arms that carried with them the scent of clean wood fires and summer days. And there was the hint of lemon, the hint of sunlight, a hint of Caleb, a hint of the love that gave to Essek until he was bursting at the seams. 

“I love it,” Essek told him, with a smile. 

* * *

Later, when the entire room was dancing and laughing, Essek found himself sitting beside Caleb. His hand was in Caleb’s, while Caleb ran his fingers along the divots of Essek’s knuckles like he was attempting to memorize him by touch alone. Essek did nothing to discourage him, and simply leaned just a bit closer. 

“I like my job,” Essek said as he watched Quana dip Leylas and plant a kiss to her. Leylas squawked indignantly, but based the pleased purple flush to her skin, she didn’t seem to mind. “But I’m beginning to think, perhaps, my days off are a little too idle. I always need to be busy.” 

“Really?” Caleb asked curiously, as Veth and Beauregard were flipping a coin. When it landed Beauregard swore as Veth swiped her drink and took it herself. Yasha and Jester watched this and laughed. Fjord clapped Caduceus on the back and both of them laughed at a joke that had obviously been told at someone’s expense. 

“Is there still an opening available for a barista or has the position been filled?” Essek asked Caleb curiously. 

“I may have to move a few interviews around, but as long as your recommendations are good I don’t see why we can’t make it work,” Caleb chuckled, slinging his arm around Essek, and Essek pulled in close against him. “I may take up your offer, Mr. Theylss, if you are so inclined.” 

“You better be careful,” Essek joked. “Remember what I said, you give me an in and you’ll be only a partner soon.” 

“Only a partner?” Caleb asked in return. “I don’t think there’s anything I would like more. Baking’s a labor of love, and I can hardly only imagine what will happen when we stuff more love in that place.” 

“We might take over the world,” Essek pointed out with a laugh. 

“With our friends? Absolutely. Let’s! But you will have to tell me what flavors you think everything should be.”

“Lemon,” Essek laughed as Caleb grinned at him in return. And so the dancing went on and the evening turned to night, but Essek was held safely in the arms of a man that he loved. Essek couldn’t believe that there would ever be anything sweeter than that. 


End file.
